a city in S Kentucky.
a city in NW Ohio.
a small open area near the S tip of Manhattan in New York City, at the foot of Broadway.
First recorded in 1640–50
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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 ball fizzed along the turf with a trajectory and precision usually seen on the bowling green – except this was played at defence-splitting speed.
From The Guardian • Aug. 14, 2019
The bowling green is no longer there, but Bowling Green Street is.
From New York Times • Jul. 29, 2016
The man with the lamp had reached the back of the house across the bowling green, and a stalwart farmer had caught Betsy Thwaites by the wrist.
From The Revellers by Tracy, Louis
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.
