Thisetymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Fromblack +ball.
blackball (countable anduncountable,pluralblackballs)
- (countable) Arejection; a vote againstadmitting someone.
- (countable) A black ball used to indicate such anegativevote.
Regardless how many other people may have voted to approve a candidate for membership, a singleblackball will reject the candidate.
- (countable) A kind of largeblacksweet, a black-coloredgobstopper.
- Synonym:(dated, offensive)niggerball
- A substance forblacking shoes, boots, etc. or for taking impressions of engraved work.
- (uncountable) A game, a standardized version of the English version ofeight-ball.
- Synonym:reds and yellows
blackball (third-person singular simple presentblackballs,present participleblackballing,simple past and past participleblackballed)
- (transitive) To vote against, especially in an exclusive organization.
If you're not from a moneyed, well-connected family, you can count on gettingblackballed from the fraternity.
1898, Willa Cather,The Westbound Train:Why, if I had known you all my life I should have grown up in the condition of Adam before the fall, and they would haveblackballed me at the clubs.
- (transitive) Toostracize.
- Synonyms:blacklist,send to Coventry;see alsoThesaurus:ignore,Thesaurus:boycott
1968 July, Stan Dryer, “The Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge”, inPlayboy Magazine,page152:Henry knew. If he wereblackballed by this distaff Mafia, he was doomed: Endless, but always justifiable, delays would occur in the work he wanted typed.
1990 February 4, Pam Mitchell, quoting Susan Moir, “Pro-Union And Queer”, inGay Community News, volume17, number29, page17:My father sure could have used a union. The monopoly that controlled the bank vault installation businessblackballed him when he was in his late fifties because he'd gone to work for a rival company that immediately went belly-up. If he'd been in a union he'd have got his job back."
2017 October 21, Mark Townsend, “Weinstein accuser says she was scared to go public with harassment claim”, inThe Observer[1],→ISSN:The actor Katherine Kendall has revealed how the fear of being “blackballed” by Hollywood’s powerbrokers stopped her from making claims of sexual harassment.
