gumball

American  

[guhm-bawl] / ˈgʌmˌbɔl /

noun

1. a brightly colored ball of sugar-coated chewing gum.

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Etymology

Origin of gumball

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; gum ¹ + ball ¹

Example Sentences

The village’s best feature may be the hardy residents who do everything from installing a gumball machine near the trail to selling organic yogurt and goat cheese to travelers.

From Seattle Times • May 25, 2023

Like some kind of strange blob from outer space, purple jellydisc, also known as jelly drops, are made up of tightly squished growths in the shape of a chewed up gumball or a tiny brain.

From Salon • Apr. 30, 2023

Here, the sun can drop into the water like a nickel into a gumball machine, like a nickel into L.A.’s earliest Kinetoscope machines, in a parlor on Spring Street downtown, 125 years ago.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 18, 2022

In spring 2019, eco-gardener and entrepreneur Sebastian Everding marveled over how a German comedian, Oliver Tissot, repurposed an old gumball machine into an “automatic joke machine.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 16, 2021

One time she crunched on a marble like it was a gumball.

From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen