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• bowling green
  bowling green

  noun

  a level, closely mowed green for lawn bowling.
• Bowling Green
  Bowling Green

  noun

  a city in S Kentucky.

bowling green

¹ American  

noun

1. a level, closely mowed green for lawn bowling.

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Bowling Green ² American  

noun

1. a city in S Kentucky.

2. a city in NW Ohio.

3. a small open area near the S tip of Manhattan in New York City, at the foot of Broadway.

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bowling green British  

noun

1. an area of closely mown turf on which the game of bowls is played

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Etymology

Origin of bowling green

First recorded in 1640–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bowling green Bowling Green

For Grimsby boss Artell, a "bowling green" surface much closer in quality to the one his side stunned Manchester United on in the League Cup earlier this season would also have been preferable.

From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2026

Fillongley Provincial Park was an early-20th-century private estate, whose former bowling green is now a wildflower meadow ringed by imported deciduous trees.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2023

The pitch that night was soaked and rutted but Modric passed the ball as though he was playing on a bowling green.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 10, 2018

When Dr. Slop offers witless barbs, Toby gently submits, wishing no harm on anyone, desiring only to potter about his bowling green, or to sit soothing a brother’s distress.

From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2016

Earlier in the century another bowling green was situate in Royston, Cambs., for which Daniel Docwra was rated.

From Fragments of Two Centuries Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King by Kingston, Alfred

The parade, which kicks off at 1400 GMT, will see the Knicks travel from Bowling Green at the bottom of Manhattan to City Hall, a 10-block route known as the "Canyon of Heroes."

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

People 50 or older now make up nearly 40% of the divorcing population, up from just 8% in 1990, according to research from Bowling Green State University.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

It happened in late October when Travis Robertson, an offensive tackle from West Bloomfield, Mich., flipped his commitment from Bowling Green to UCLA.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2025

Corrections & Amplifications Bowling Green State University was incorrectly referred to as Bowling Green University in an earlier version of this article.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2025

In a stroke of luck, they also had an idea where Willie Jett might be headed: Jett had been courting a young lady whose father kept a hotel in the nearby town of Bowling Green.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson