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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

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

A bin next to the pristine bowling green, just a few steps from the prom, is surrounded by a mass of half-eaten food, fish and chip boxes, disposable cutlery and bottles.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2020

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

The most eccentric of Glasheen's quirks is his insistence on maintaining a large – and largely brown – bowling green, which he cuts with a petrol-powered mower.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 23, 2013

Bowling Green Street derives its name from a bowling green which existed not very many years since.

From Notes and Queries, Number 231, April 1, 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George

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

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 2024, a team of Bowling Green State University biology students recorded a significant reduction in cyanobacteria in Northwest Ohio’s Sandusky Bay thanks to the removal of an upstream dam.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 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