handball

noun

1. (uncountable)A team sport where two teams of seven players each (six players and a goalkeeper) pass and bounce a ball trying to throw it in the goal of the opposing team.
2. (countable)The medium-sized inflated ball used in this sport.
3. (countable)The offence of a player other than the goalkeeper touching the ball with the hand or arm on the field during play.

   “It was a dramatic finish to an absorbing, fast-paced game but Blackburn will be deeply unhappy with referee Anthony Taylor as Nzonzi's handball was harsh.”

4. (Ireland, US, uncountable)A sport in which players alternately strike the ball against a wall with their hand. Irish and American variants have slightly different rules.
5. (US, countable)The small rubber ball used in this sport.
6. (countable)An act of passing a football by holding it with one hand and hitting it with the other.
7. (Australia, uncountable)A schoolyard game in which a tennis ball is struck with the hand, played on an improvised court on the asphalt or pavement.

verb

1. (transitive)To manually load or unload a container, trailer, or to otherwise manually move bulk goods (often on pallets) from one type of transport receptacle to another.
2. To illegally touch the ball with the hand or arm.

   “If the defender handballs in the penalty area, a penalty is awarded.”

3. To (legally) pass a football by holding it with one hand and hitting it with the other.

   “Meanwhile, you can introduce the basic concept of Aussie rules through a game like lineball, a lead-up game introduced in the basketball section of chapter 10, but with the ball handballed, not thrown.”

   “An obvious way in which football has changed over the last decade or two has been in the use of handballing.”

   “On only 8 occasions during the entire match did players who had marked the ball decide not to walk slowly and purposefully back and take their kick, but instead play on by handballing to a team mate.”

4. (Australia, slang)To pass responsibility for a task or problem to someone else, often to avoid dealing with an undesirable task or a tricky question.

   “Now six months into the role I have come to learn that the boss’s idea of empowering and delegating is actually handballing or passing off tasks that they actually should be performing themselves.”

   “The shortage has taken time to develop and despite the government trying to handball' the problem to the states, it has happened on its watch.”

   “I am finding that she's a difficult patient in more ways than one! for that reason I'll handball her off to our senior podiatrist if symptoms persist.”

   “I might handball that question to Dr Parkinson or somebody who has a better view of the morphology of the portfolio than I do.”

5. (slang)To insert a hand into someone's anus.