any of several games in which players standing at one end of an alley or green roll balls at standing objects or toward a mark at the other end, especially a game in which a heavy ball is rolled from one end of a wooden alley at wooden pins set up at the opposite end.Compare boccie, candlepins(def 2), duckpins(def 2), lawn bowling, ninepins(def 1), tenpins(def 1).
a rather deep, round dish or basin, used chiefly for holding liquids, food, etc.
the contents of a bowl: a bowl of tomato soup.
a rounded, cuplike, hollow part: the bowl of a pipe.
a large drinking cup.
festive drinking; conviviality.
any bowl-shaped depression or formation.
an edifice with tiers of seats forming sides like those of a bowl, having the arena at the bottom; stadium.
Also called bowl game. a football game played after the regular season by teams selected by the sponsors of the game, usually as representing the best from a region of the country: the Rose Bowl.
Typography. a curved or semicircular line of a character, as of a, d, b, etc.
verb (used with object)
to give (a floor) a gentle inclination on all sides toward some area, as a stage or platform.
Origin of bowl
1
before 950;Middle Englishbolle,Old Englishbolla; cognate with Old Norsebolli. See boll
Related formsbowl·like, adjective
bowl
2
[bohl]
noun
one of the balls, having little or no bias, used in playing ninepins or tenpins.
one of the biased or weighted balls used in lawn bowling.
any of various games in which a heavy ball is rolled down a special alley, usually made of wood, at a group of wooden pins, esp the games of tenpin bowling (tenpins) and skittles (ninepins)
the game of bowls
cricketthe act of delivering the ball to the batsman
(modifier)of or relating to bowls or bowlinga bowling team
bowl
1
noun
a round container open at the top, used for holding liquid, keeping fruit, serving food, etc
Also: bowlfulthe amount a bowl will hold
the rounded or hollow part of an object, esp of a spoon or tobacco pipe
any container shaped like a bowl, such as a sink or lavatory
mainlyUSa bowl-shaped building or other structure, such as a football stadium or amphitheatre
a bowl-shaped depression of the land surfaceSee also dust bowl
literary
a drinking cup
intoxicating drink
Word Origin for bowl
Old English bolla; related to Old Norse bolli, Old Saxon bollo
bowl
2
noun
a wooden ball used in the game of bowls, having flattened sides, one side usually being flatter than the other in order to make it run on a curved course
a large heavy ball with holes for gripping with the fingers and thumb, used in tenpin bowling
verb
to roll smoothly or cause to roll smoothly, esp by throwing underarm along the ground
(intr usually foll by along) to move easily and rapidly, as in a car
cricket
to send (a ball) down the pitch from one's hand towards the batsman, keeping the arm straight while doing so
Also: bowl outto dismiss (a batsman) by delivering a ball that breaks his wicket
(intr)to play bowls or tenpin bowling
(tr)(in tenpin bowling) to score (a specified amount)he bowled 120
1530s, originally "playing at bowls," verbal noun from bowl (v.). Bowling alley is from 1550s.
bowl
n.
Old English bolla "pot, cup, bowl," from Proto-Germanic *bul- "a round vessel" (cf. Old Norse bolle, Old High German bolla), from PIE *bhl-, from root *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole).
bowl
v.
"to roll a ball on the ground," typically as part of a game or contest, mid-15c., from bowl "wooden ball" (see bowls). Specifically of cricket from 1755; cricket use is source of late 19c. expressions bowl over, etc. Related: Bowled; bowling.
