blackball

/ˌblækˈbɔl/

Other forms: blackballed; blackballing; blackballs

When you blackball someone, you ban him from a group. A bunch of kids who kick a tattletale out of their secret club essentially blackball him.

You can use blackball as a noun or a verb — a blackball is an act of excluding or ostracizing someone. Country club members might initiate a blackball against an eccentric member who wears tie dyed t-shirts on the golf course, for example. The origin of the word goes back to the 1700s, when club members would cast secret votes on membership using white and black wooden or ivory balls. The black balls represented "no" votes.

Definitions of blackball

1. verb

   vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent
   synonyms: negative, veto

   types:

   defeat, kill, shoot down, vote down, vote out

   thwart the passage of

   type of:

   contradict, controvert, oppose

   be resistant to
2. verb

   expel from a community or group
   synonyms: ban, banish, cast out, ostracise, ostracize, shun

   type of:

   expel, kick out, throw out

   force to leave or move out
3. noun

   the act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto
   synonyms: barring

   type of:

   ejection, exclusion, expulsion, riddance

   the act of forcing out someone or something