> as lemmas

?1591 T. Coningsby Jrnl. Siege Rouen (Harl. 288) 29 in Camden Misc. (1847) I The 19. and 20. we passed in making good cheare..ryding of horses, playing at ballone, and the lyke.

1603 T. North tr. Plutarch Lives (ed. 2) ii. 52 He would play at tennis, at the ballone..[Fr. au ieu de paume & de la bale; L. ad pilam primo folliculumque transiit].

1605 G. Chapman et al. Eastward Hoe i. sig. B Wee had a match at Baloone.., with my Lord Whachum, for foure crownes.

1629 J. Ford Lover's Melancholy ii. i. sig. D2^v Where's your great Horse, your Hounds, your set at Tennis, Your Balloone ball, the practice of your dancing.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Leic. 137 Being challenged by an Italian Gentleman to play at Baloun.

1726 F. Altieri Dizionario Italiano & Inglese Bracciale, a bracer to put on one's arm when one plays at balloon.

1791 J. Townsend Journey Spain II. 405 A company of young gentlemen, who amused themselves..with their favourite diversion of the balloon.

1801 J. Strutt Sports & Pastimes ii. iii. 76 The balloon-ball seems certainly to have originated from the hand-ball, and was..first played in England without the assistance of the bracer.

1820 W. Scott Monastery II. vii. 234 The winning party at that wondrous match at ballon.

1927 Times 18 June 17 [At the Cotswold games] cudgel-playing and backsword, wrestling,..playing at balloon or hand ball, leap-frog.., are among the country sports for which substantial prizes..are distributed.

1950 G. S. Dugdale Whitehall through Cents. 24 Tennis and balloon-ball were not the only games played at Whitehall on the Cockpit side.

1991 Hist. Today Oct. 27/1 Dutch artists show us the sports both of the well-to-do and the poor: games like ‘balloon’—a precursor of volley-ball, played by elegantly dressed young men in teams of two or three.