What does pelota in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word pelota in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use pelota in Spanish.

The word pelota in Spanish means ball, ball, ball games, ball, brown-nosing, arse-licker, balls, nuts, pay attention to , pay attention, give the time of day, return the favour, return the favour, control the ball, in the buff, in the buff, in your birthday suit, naked, suck up to. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word pelota

ball

nombre femenino (balón para jugar)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
¿Has visto mi pelota de tenis? // Quiero una pelota de fútbol para mi cumpleaños.
I want a football for my birthday.

ball, ball games

nombre femenino (juego con balón)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Cuando éramos niños, jugábamos a la pelota en el patio.
When we were young, we would play ball games in the playground.

ball

nombre femenino (objeto redondo)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
El viejo hizo una pelota con el pañuelo y lo echó a la basura.
He made a ball out of his handkerchief.

brown-nosing

adjetivo de una sola terminación (ES: coloquial (adulador, meloso)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
La profe ya está harta de los alumnos pelotas.
The teacher was fed up of the brown-nosing students.

arse-licker

nombre común en cuanto al género (ES: coloquial (persona aduladora) (UK, slang)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Manuel es el pelota de la oficina.
Manuel is the office arse-licker.

balls, nuts

nombre femenino plural (vulgar (testículos) (slang)

(plural noun: Noun always used in plural form--for example, "jeans," "scissors.")
El arquero recibió un balonazo en las pelotas.
The goalkeeper got hit in the nuts by the ball.

pay attention to , pay attention

(CR, UY: coloquial (prestar atención)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Está tan metido en su videojuego que es un milagro cuando me da pelota.
He's so into his video game that it's a miracle when he pays attention to me.

give the time of day

(CR, UY: coloquial (responder a galanteo) (colloquial)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Juan es atractivo, pero ninguna chica le da pelota.
Juan is good-looking but no girl gives him the time of day.

return the favour

locución verbal (coloquial (vengarse, desquitarse) (slang, UK)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Ellos nos pusieron trabas cuando les pedimos ayuda; ahora les vamos a devolver la pelota.
They gave excuses when we asked for help; now we are going to return the favour.

return the favour

locución verbal (coloquial (corresponder a otra acción) (figurative, UK)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Ya tú me preguntaste lo que quisiste; me toca devolverte la pelota.
It's my turn to return the favour.

control the ball

locución verbal (en un partido)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Los visitantes dominaron la pelota durante el primer tiempo.
The visitors controlled the ball during the first half.

in the buff

locución adjetiva (coloquial (desnudo) (colloquial)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Un hombre en pelota se asomó por la ventana.
A man leaned out the window in the buff.

in the buff, in your birthday suit

locución adverbial (coloquial (sin ropa) (colloquial)

(adverb: Describes a verb, adjective, adverb, or clause--for example, "come quickly," "very rare," "happening now," "fall down.")
En verano, a Luis le encanta dormir en pelotas.
In summer, Luis loves sleeping in his birthday suit.

naked

locución adverbial (coloquial (desnudo)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
En verano, a Luis le encanta dormir en pelotas.
In summer, Luis likes to sleep naked.

suck up to

(ES: coloquial (alabar, adular)

(phrasal verb, transitive, inseparable: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning, not divisible--for example,"go with" [=combine nicely]: "Those red shoes don't go with my dress." NOT [S]"Those red shoes don't go my dress with."[/S])
Dudo mucho que hacerle la pelota a tu profesor para que te suba la nota funcione.
I doubt very much that sucking up to your teacher so that he'll give you a better grade will work.

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So now that you know more about the meaning of pelota in Spanish, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Spanish.

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Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.