pelota
/pɪˈlɒtə
/ /pɪˈləʊtə/noun [mass noun]
1A Basque or Spanish game played in a walled court with a ball and basket-like rackets attached to the hand.Basque immigrants began building pelota courts soon after they arrived in the United States, and their love of the sport is considered an important factor in unifying the American Basque community....
- After watching a game of pelota, I sat on my balcony and got drunk on a dramatic view of rocky ridges calmed down by sheep, cows and farmers.
- We passed what looked like three-sided open-air squash courts - frontons, he said, built by Basque settlers who wanted to play pelota in their new home.
1.1 [count noun] The ball used in pelota.It's played with a pelota, a rock-hard ball five-sixths the size of a baseball, and with the explosive bounce of a golf ball....
- The rock hard pelota crushed the side of his head with a 100 mile per hour impact.
- Ramuntcho is a Basque smuggler and player of pelota, the Basque national game, and the story concerns his adventures and those of his fiancée, Gracieuse.
Origin
Spanish, literally 'ball', augmentative of pella, from Latin pila 'ball'.