Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

carom

or car·rom

[kar-uh m]
See more synonyms for carom on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Billiards, Pool. a shot in which the cue ball hits two balls in succession.
  2. any strike and rebound, as a ball striking a wall and glancing off.
Show More
verb (used without object)
  1. to make a carom.
  2. to strike and rebound.
Show More

Origin of carom

1770–80; by false analysis of carambole (taken as carom ball) < French < Spanish carambola, special use of fruit name; see carambola
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for caroming

Historical Examples

  • Kenniston's shoulder hit the captain and sent him caroming into Murdock.

    The World with a Thousand Moons

    Edmond Hamilton

  • Allan plunged down into the darkness, caroming from wall to wall as he half ran, half fell, down the twisting stairs.

    When the Sleepers Woke

    Arthur Leo Zagat

  • Screaming insanely the people rushed about the chamber, caroming from one another, stumbling and falling.

    Red Nails

    Robert E. Howard

  • We simply fell over the cliff, plunging, caroming, and ricocheting down through the masses of vegetation.

    In Africa

    John T. McCutcheon

  • "Just a lady and a bossy," said the Girl, as she reined in the Pony abruptly, and sent the Bossy caroming off into the bushes.

    The Sick-a-Bed Lady

    Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

British Dictionary definitions for caroming

carom

noun
  1. billiards, US and Canadian
    1. a shot in which the cue ball is caused to contact one object ball after another
    2. the points scored by this
    Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): cannon
Show More

Word Origin

C18: from earlier carambole (taken as carom ball), from Spanish carambola
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 caroming

carom

v.

1860, from carom (n.). Related: Caromed; caroming.

Show More

carom

n.

1779, earlier carambole (1775), from French carambole "the red ball in billiards," from Spanish carombola "the red ball in billiards," perhaps originally "fruit of the tropical Asian carambola tree," which is round and orange and supposed to resemble a red billiard ball; from Marathi (southern Indian) karambal. Originally a type of stroke involving the red ball:

If the Striker hits the Red and his Adversary's Ball with his own Ball he played with, he wins two Points; which Stroke is called a Carambole, or for Shortness, a Carrom. ["Hoyle's Games Improved," London, 1779]
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper