patball

Etymology

From pat + ball.

noun

  1. A particular children's ball game played against a wall with a tennis ball.
  2. A back-and-forth situation.“Opposite him sat Peter Thorneycroft and the patball went on and on and on. It's as though one hadn't left off last July - the same sort of professional debating, two heavyweights in a clinch because neither wants to knock the other out […]”
  3. The ball used in the game of patball.
  4. A pawn, a football.“Don't you know that your very best friend is being made somebody's patball?”