(engineering) During a drilling operation, collection by a portion of the drilling equipment of a mass of viscous consolidated material. Failure of an anchor to hold on a soft bottom, by pulling out with a large ball of mud attached.
| Sci-Tech Dictionary: ball-up |
(engineering) During a drilling operation, collection by a portion of the drilling equipment of a mass of viscous consolidated material. Failure of an anchor to hold on a soft bottom, by pulling out with a large ball of mud attached.
| 5min Related Video: ball up |
| Thesaurus: ball up |
verb
| Idioms: ball up |
1.
Roll something into a ball, as in She loved to knit and was always balling up her yarn. [Early 1800s]
2.
Confuse or bungle, as in Jane got all balled up at the beginning of her speech, or Henry really balled up that exam. This term may come from the fact that when a horse is driven over soft or partly thawed snow, the snow becomes packed into icy balls on its hoofs, making it stumble. Another theory is that it alludes to the vulgar term balls for testicles. [First half of 1900s]
| Word Tutor: balls-up |
| WordNet: ball up |
The verb has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
make a mess of, destroy or ruin
Synonyms: botch, bumble, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up
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