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Slang of the Week: powerball (verb)
live in the style of an rich, powerful and important person

Example:
Donald Trump and Richard Branson have both tried to impress Americans by powerballin’ on reality shows this year.

Celebrity quote:
“Suge Knight is powerballin’. R Kelly, 50 Cent, Snoop. Lots of people: Russell Simons, P. Diddy—and Beyoncé is powerballin’. Ladies can too. Don’t discriminate.”
-Chingy quoted in Rolling Stone, November 25, 2004.

This expression comes hot off the presses! In this week’s Rolling Stone, Chingy talks about his new Powerballin’ CD, which came out on Tuesday. Like LL Cool J’s recent effort Headsprung, his album has the potential to introduce a new word to the masses. Chingy’s exact definition is that powerballin’ is about “Having clout, showing it off and living how you live.” So far, it appears to only exist in the "-ing" form of the verb.

The word comes from baller/balla (big spender) and is closely related to words like bling bling and flossing (showing off, especially your wealth). The most likely reason Chingy feels the need to explain that it can refer to women is that it originally had a sexual meaning that was only appropriate for men.

I don’t know if he intended the double meaning, but Powerball is also a multi-state lottery in the US that could easily help someone become a powerballa. The current jackpot is $83 million.

What’s new at Slang City?
“I hope you both choke on a pickle. Man, that would tickle me to death.” Our translation of country singer Tim McGraw’s angry divorce song, Do You Want Fries With That?