backgammon
/ˈbæk.ɡæm.ən/ noun, verb
Forms backgammons backgammoning backgammoned
- noun A board game for two players in which each has 15 stones which move between 24 triangular points according to the roll of a pair of dice; the object is to move all of one's pieces around, and bear them off the board.
- noun (backgammon) A victory in the game when the loser has not borne off a stone, and still has one or more stones in the winner's inner home row or on the bar.
- verb To win at a backgammon game with the opponent having one or more pieces in the winner’s inner home row or on the bar.
Etymology
Probably from back + Middle English gamen, from Old English gamen (“amusement, game”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A game of chance and skill, played by two persons on a "board" marked off into twenty-four spaces called "points". Each player has fifteen pieces, or "men", the movements of which from point to point are determined by throwing dice. Formerly called tables. Backgammon board , a board for playing backgammon, often made in the form of two rectangular trays hinged together, each tray containing two "tables".
- verb In the game of backgammon, to beat by ending the game before the loser is clear of his first "table".
Etymology [Origin unknown; perhaps fr.Dan. bakke tray + E. game; or very likely the first part is from E.back, adv., and the game is so called because the men are often set back.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “backgammon”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details