bowling alley
Americannoun
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bowling alleys
plural
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a building or enclosed area containing a number of lanes or alleys for the game of bowling.
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any of these long, narrow wooden lanes or alleys.
noun
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a long narrow wooden lane down which the ball is rolled in tenpin bowling
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a similar lane or alley, usually with raised sides, for playing skittles (ninepins)
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a building having several lanes for tenpin bowling
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bowling alley
First recorded in 1545–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I’m frustrated there is nobody building the art gallery, the music room, the barber shop, the bowling alley or the hotel,” Shriver said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Like a neighborhood bar or a bowling alley, the internet was a place you could reliably go to have fun and occasionally learn something from semi-strangers who shared your interests.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
It has its own bowling alley and two swimming pools.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
He marveled at their bowling alley and Dolby Atmos-equipped movie theater.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
He took Mary Jean, his four-year-old granddaughter, to Camp David’s two-lane bowling alley.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
