ball up
Third Person
balls up
Present Participle
balling up
Past Tense
balled up
Past Participle
balled up
1
to ruin or create disorder in something
- He balled up the presentation by forgetting important details.
- Let's not ball up the project with last-minute changes.
- The new intern unfortunately balled up the office filing system.
- She balled the recipe up by using the wrong ingredients.
- I hope we don't ball the event up with technical glitches.
2
to make something into a ball by squeezing or crushing
- The clay balled up perfectly for shaping into pottery.
- The dough balled up smoothly as she kneaded it for the bread.
- Before discarding it, she balled up the worn-out cloth.
- The cat balled up the yarn and played with it for hours.
- He balled up the napkin and tossed it into the recycling bin.
3
to fold the body forward, bringing arms and legs in
- The hedgehog instinctively balled up when it sensed danger.
- The armadillo has a natural defense mechanism to ball up.
- The goalie instinctively balled up to protect the net.
- The yoga instructor asked the class to slowly ball up into a seated position.
- The gymnast balled up tightly before executing the flip.