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# pinball

«pinball» in Mova's school dictionary: **An arcade game in which you shoot a metal ball up a…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (pinball, uncountable; a pinball machine)

### meaning for a pupil

1) An arcade game in which you shoot a metal ball up a sloping table and use flippers to keep it bouncing off targets to score points. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/#m1)

2) (verb, informal) To bounce quickly from one place to another: «The ball pinballed around the box.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

Everyday games word: pinball machines are found in arcades, cafes and on computers. In science lessons it can illustrate forces, slopes and bouncing (collisions). Sports commentators say a ball «pinballed» around the penalty area.

### examples

- We played pinball at the arcade on the pier. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/#x1)
- Press the buttons to move the flippers in pinball. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/#x2)
- I got a high score on the pinball machine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/#x3)
- The ball went pinballing between the defenders. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/#x4)
- Pinball machines use springs, slopes and magnets. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/#x5)
- Gravity pulls the pinball down the table. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/#x6)

### note

Uncountable as a game (play pinball); countable as a machine (two pinball machines). One word. The verb «pinball» is informal.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «pinball» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pinball/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.