blue balls

plural noun

chiefly US slang

: pain of the testes and scrotum occurring after prolonged sexual arousal without orgasm

His price for such an unselfish evening is to spend several succeeding hours in stiff-legged waddling pain we call blue balls.

—Richard Woodley, Playboy, September 1974

The term is blue balls, and whether a man's testicles actually turn any colors I don't know, but they can absolutely ache from the need for sexual release.

—Ruth K. Westheimer, Sex for Dummies, 3rd edition, 2011

Films, books and adolescent folklore are peppered with references to the pain of "blue balls," and its link to frustrated sexual desire.

—Sandi Doughton, New Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), 2 Oct. 2000

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1920, in the meaning defined above

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