Definition of "buckyball" [buckyball]

• A molecule of buckminsterfullerene. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Not just any carbon molecule, but a "buckyball" -- 60 carbon atoms arranged in the shape of a soccer ball, with the same structure as the geodesic dome popularized by Buckminster Fuller."
• "Lockheed Martin is sponsoring the Year of the Nano, Rice's celebration of the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the buckminsterfullerene molecule -- the "buckyball" -- that enables nanotechnology."
• "A research team has identified a new biological function for a soccer ball-shaped nanoparticle called a buckyball -- the ability to block allergic response, setting the stage for the development of new therapies for allergy."