billiards

[bil-yerdz]

noun (used with a singular verb)

any of several games played with hard balls of ivory or of a similar material that are driven with a cue on a cloth-covered table enclosed by a raised rim of rubber, especially a game played with a cue ball and two object balls on a table without pockets.Compare pool²(def 8).

Origin of billiards

First recorded in 1585–95; plural of billiard

Related formsbil·liard·ist, noun

billiard

[bil-yerd]

adjective

of or used in billiards.

noun

carom(def 1).

Origin of billiard

1630–40; < French billard cue, equivalent to bille stick (see billet²) + -ard -ard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for billiards

Contemporary Examples of billiards

He hung around artists, organized exhibitions, and bought and ran a billiards hall and bar.
This Week’s Hot Reads: Oct. 15, 2012
Mythili Rao
October 15, 2012
No, it was Professor Plum with the lead pipe in the billiards room.
Why the GOP Should Panic
Matt Latimer
November 7, 2011

Historical Examples of billiards

Most exquisite of sonatas would not to them make up for a game of billiards!
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
It cost her six francs, for he had lost at billiards, and the drinks they had played for were owing.
The Fat and the Thin
Emile Zola
They told me up at Delhi that you hadn't your equal at whist or billiards.
Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume I.
Charles James Lever
I found there the burgomaster's son, who was just beginning a game of billiards.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
In proportion as he excels in billiards he will be lacking in business, and vice versa.
Dollars and Sense
Col. Wm. C. Hunter

British Dictionary definitions for billiards

billiards

noun (functioning as singular)

any of various games in which long cues are used to drive balls now made of composition or plastic. It is played on a rectangular table covered with a smooth tight-fitting cloth and having raised cushioned edges

a version of this, played on a rectangular table having six pockets let into the corners and the two longer sides. Points are scored by striking one of three balls with the cue to contact the other two or one of the twoCompare pool 2 (def. 5), snooker

Word Origin for billiards

C16: from Old French billard curved stick, from Old French bille log; see billet ²

billiard

noun

(modifier) of or relating to billiardsa billiard table; a billiard cue; a billiard ball

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for billiards

1590s, from French billiard, originally the word for the wooden cue stick, a diminutive from Old French bille "stick of wood," from Medieval Latin billia "tree, trunk," possibly from Gaulish (cf. Irish bile "tree trunk").

billiard

singular of billiards, used only in combinations.