1. The testicles. A predictable use of the word, balls was first used as a euphe- mism in Renaissance England, later becoming a standard, if coarse synonym.

2. Rubbish, nonsense. This use of the word, except perhaps as an exclamation, is surprisingly acceptable in middle-class speech (in such phrases as 'it's all balls'), considering its derivation.

'He was awarded a campaign medal, "but I didn't go to get mine. I wasn't inter- ested; I thought it was all balls".' (Falklands war veteran quoted in the Ob- server review of The Fight for the Malvi- nas by Martin Middlebrook, 9 April 1989)

3. Courage, nerve. In this sense the word may now be applied to women in spite of the anatomical inconsistency.

4. A mess. This is a modern, mainly mid- dle-class shortening of balls-up, usually found in the phrase to 'make a balls of it/something'.

5. American money, dollars. This usage was recorded in the later 1990s among adolescents. Bollers and boyz are British synonyms.

'It's gonna cost you mucho balls.' (Recorded, teenager, North London, June 1995).