snowball

(snō'bôl')
n.

1. 1. A mass of soft, wet snow packed into a ball that can be thrown, as in play.
   2. Chiefly Southern U.S. A cup of crushed or shaved ice flavored with colored syrup.
2. Any of several plants having rounded clusters of white flowers, as the guelder rose and certain species of the arrowwood.

v., -balled, -ball·ing, -balls.

v.intr.

1. To grow rapidly in significance, importance, or size: problems that snowballed by the hour.
2. To throw snowballs.

v.tr.

1. To cause to grow or increase rapidly.
2. To throw snowballs at.

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verb

1. To increase or expand suddenly, rapidly, or without control: explode, mushroom. See increase/decrease.
2. To make or become greater or larger: aggrandize, amplify, augment, boost, build, build up, burgeon, enlarge, escalate, expand, extend, grow, increase, magnify, mount, multiply, proliferate, rise, run up, soar, swell, upsurge, wax. Informal beef up. See increase/decrease.

A method of efficient debt repayment in which the debtholder initially devotes only enough funds to cover the minimum payments on each debt, after which any remaining available funds from the debt repayment budget are spent on an additional payment to the debt bearing the highest interest rate. Once the debt with the highest interest rate is completely paid for, subsequent extra debt payments go toward the next highest interest-bearing debt. This process continues until all the debts are paid off.

Investopedia Says:
For example, let's say an individual decides to spend $500 every month on retiring his three sources of debt: $1,000 worth of credit card debt (annual rate of 20% interest), $1,250 of car payments (annual rate of 6% interest) and a $5,000 line of credit (annual rate of 8%). Each has a minimum payment of $50.

If the person decides to use the snowball method of debt repayment, he will spend a total of $150 on paying each debt's minimum payment ($50 x 3). The remaining $350 will be spent on a payment toward the highest interest-bearing debt - in this case, the credit card debt. Once the credit card debt has been completely paid for, the extra payment will go toward retiring the second-highest interest bearing debt (the line of credit), and the loan with the lowest rate of interest (the car loan).

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IN BRIEF: n. - Crushed ice pressed into a round shape for throwing (playfully).

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball. — Doug Larson Source: United Features Syndicate

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sign description: Both 5-hands make a wiggling motion downward, then both hands come together at the fingertips forming a ball.

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For a list of words related to snowball, see:

• Flowering Plants

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See words rhyming with "snowball."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Snowball.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - snebold
v. intr. - vokse som en snebold, tage til i forrygende fart, kaste med snebolde
v. tr. - skyde med snebolde

idioms:

• not a snowball's chance in hell    ikke skyggen af en chance

Nederlands (Dutch)
sneeuwbal

Français (French)
n. - boule de neige, cocktail, mélange de cocaïne et d'héroïne
v. intr. - (fig) faire boule de neige
v. tr. - bombarder de boules de neige

idioms:

• a snowball's chance in hell    (être) perdu d'avance

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schneeball
v. - sehr schnell zunehmen

idioms:

• a snowball's chance in hell    nicht die geringste Chance

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - χιονόμπαλα, (φυτολ.) βιβούρνο, αλυσωτές αντιδράσεις του χρηματιστηρίου
v. - εκτοξεύω χιονόμπαλες, αυξάνομαι, διογκώνομαι απότομα

idioms:

• not a snowball's chance in hell    καμιά απολύτως ελπίδα

Italiano (Italian)
palla di neve

Português (Portuguese)
n. - bola de neve (f)
v. - aumentar ou crescer com bola de neve

Русский (Russian)
снежок, снежный ком, сбор денег, при котором каждый участник обязуется привлечь другого, калина, замороженный десерт "снежок", играть в снежки, лепить снежки, расти как снежный ком

Español (Spanish)
n. - bola de nieve, juego de lanzar bolas de nieve, irón, negro
v. intr. - lanzar bolas de nieve, crecer como una bola de nieve
v. tr. - lanzar bolas de nieve

idioms:

• a snowball's chance in hell    ni una posibilidad, ni la más remota posibilidad

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - snöboll
v. - låta växa i allt snabbare takt (bild.), kasta snöboll

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
雪球, 打雪仗, 滚雪球般增长, 向...丢雪球, 使滚雪球般增长

idioms:

• not a snowball's chance in hell    不可能的事情

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 雪球
v. intr. - 打雪仗, 滾雪球般增長
v. tr. - 向...丟雪球, 使滾雪球般增長

idioms:

• not a snowball's chance in hell    不可能的事情

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 눈뭉치, 눈덩이 기부금 모금법, 시럽으로 조미한 빙과
v. intr. - ~에 눈뭉치를 던지다, 눈싸움하다, 눈덩이 커지듯 붇다
v. tr. - ~에 눈뭉치를 던지다, 눈싸움하다, 가속도적으로 크게 하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 雪の玉, 雪玉, 雪つぶて
v. - 雪玉を投げ付ける, どんどん増大する, 雪玉を投げる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) كرة ثلجيه (فعل) يرشق بكرات ثلجيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כדור-שלג‬
v. intr. - ‮התגלגל ככדור-שלג, גדל במהירות‬
v. tr. - ‮הטיל כדורי-שלג‬

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