freeball

English

Etymology 1

free +‎ ball. See ball (“testicle”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

freeball (third-person singular simple present freeballs, present participle freeballing, simple past and past participle freeballed)

1. (intransitive, slang) To wear no underwear under one's outer clothing.
   • 1995, Steven Zeeland, in some book or something:

     And when you freeball in fatigues you're a walking hard-on anyway

   • 2003, Christian Fletcher, in another book:

     I had run out of clean underwear on a road trip, and I had heard rumors about the pleasures associated with freeballing, and so I made the decision and

   • 2004, Michael Ryan, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     […] has thrown away dozens of pairs of underwear throughout his life, having to freeball the rest of the day.

See also

• free ball
• free-boob
• go commando

Etymology 2

Noun

freeball (plural freeballs)

1. (volleyball) A ball that has been hit from below the top of the net.
   • 1981, National Volleyball Coaches Association Technical Journal:

     Just about every play in the game, service reception, general play and freeball, involves the use of the front A and/or back A, although they are not always set.

   • 1985, Bob Bertucci Tina Kogut Bertucci, Ralph Hippolyte, Championship Volleyball Drills: Combination and complex training, page 99:

     Areas of emphasis can be: team blocking, serve reception, attack combinations, freeball execution, and spiker coverage.

   • 1998, The American Volleyball Coaches Association, Coaching Volleyball, page 34:

     By serving tough, using effective downball placement, not giving easy freeballs and simply attacking smartly and in a tough manner.

2. (television) A show that is developed by the station without participation by the network.
   • 1965, Television - Volume 22, page 74:

     But the freeballs it has done on its own, Farmer's Daughter, Hazel, Bewitched, have proven the gambit.

   • 1970, Federal Communications Commission Reports:

     Then there was no dearth of venture capital to provide freeball pilots for the market.

   • 1984, Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Consumer Protection, and Finance, page 138:

     At this time virtually no active producers go so far as to commission a "freeball" script without prior consultation with the network.

Verb

freeball (third-person singular simple present freeballs, present participle freeballing, simple past and past participle freeballed)

1. To improvise; to act without a set plan.
   • 2003, JJ Christopher, The Wolf Boys' Club:

     "Strap in," he said, sternly. "My bird, my rules. No one freeballs it when I'm doing the flying."

   • 2016 January 11, Kiri Blakeley, “Give him props! Talented props designer creates astonishing new masks every day - with nothing but items like tacks, elastic bands and panty hose”, in Daily Mail:

     'For the designs, I just freeball it. I have a strategy where I try to keep the same gaze, but I like those that are flipped, such as when I put my head sideways'.

   • 2017 September 13, Brian Steinberg, “Stephen Colbert Q&A: Despite Politics, 'Late Show' Host Just Wants to Make Audiences Laugh”, in Variety:

     I’m still going to change it when I say it and I’ll often kind of freeball, as we say, how it transitions from moment to moment, because we don’t have to write it conversationally.

   • 2019 November 27, Barbara Pavone, “Every Post Malone face tattoo explained”, in Nicki Swift:

     When Capital XTRA tried to find out what his next designs would be, Malone confessed, "I don't know. I just kind of freeball it."

2. (volleyball) To make a freeball shot.
   • 2017 September 6, Josh Seguin, “Hodsdon nets 500th career kill as STA sweeps Hilltoppers”, in Seacoastonline:

     But we can't just freeball it to them because they will kill it right back at you.