netball

1. (uncountable) A (usually women's) team sport derived from basketball, with seven players on each side who attempt to score goals by passing a ball and throwing it into the opponent's goal, which is a raised hoop with a net at one end of the playing area. Unlike basketball, a player in possession of the ball cannot move until the ball is passed to another player.Examples: "Some excellent photographs are taken of [...] members of the athletic club, "net-ball," "foot-ball," etc., [...]"; "The next events were ones in which selected members of squads participated while the other members watched and cheered. These were net ball, hockey, tennis, and swimming, and followed in the order given."; "In addition to the above prominent clubs, there are a number of cricket, tennis, net-ball, and football clubs in the Colony."uncountable

2. (countable) The ball used in this sport.Examples: "Over the years he had stitched Dr. Bailey's black bag, Paul's pram hood, the net balls at the village school, and saddles and bridles for Joan and Ruth when they were small, and kept in trim the footwear that passed and repassed his window as the various owners went about their business on Thrush Green."; "'If we could find our netball, you could borrow it,' she said softly. / 'A netball!' he said in disgust. 'A netball is no use. It is not heavy enough. But I would borrow it,' he added quickly. 'It would be better than no ball at all.'"; "I've never been hit before in my life, except by a netball in PE once, so it takes me a while to realize that my head hasn't just rocketed off the top of my spine but is in fact still attached to the rest of me and that the ringing noise is just the repercussion of the blow sounding in my ears and not an orchestral score blasting from the stereo."countable