billiards
UK /ˈbɪlɪədz/ · US /ˈbɪl.jɚdz/ noun
Also a form of billiard
- noun (games, UK) A two-player cue sport played with two cue balls and one red ball, on a snooker sized table. “He was playing billiards in the casino.”
- noun (games, US) Any of various games played on a tabletop, usually with several balls, one or more of which is hit by a cue.
Synonyms
Etymology
From French billard, originally referring to the wooden cue stick, diminutive of Old French bille (“log, tree trunk”), from Vulgar Latin *bilia, probably of Gaulish origin (compare Old Irish bile (“large tree, tree trunk”)), from Proto-Celtic *belyos (“tree”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰolh₃yos (“leaf”), from *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A game played with ivory balls o a cloth-covered, rectangular table, bounded by elastic cushions. The player seeks to impel his ball with his cue so that it shall either strike (carom upon) two other balls, or drive another ball into one of the pockets with which the table sometimes is furnished.
Etymology [F. billiard billiards, OF. billart staff, cue form playing, fr. bille log. See Billet a stick.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “billiards”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details