croquet
Americannoun
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a game played by knocking wooden balls through metal wickets with mallets.
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(in croquet) the act of driving away an opponent's ball by striking one's own when the two are in contact.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a game for two to four players who hit a wooden ball through iron hoops with mallets in order to hit a peg
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the act of croqueting
verb
Etymology
Origin of croquet
1855–60; < French (dial.): hockey stick, literally, little hook; see crocket
Explanation
Croquet (rhymes with “okay”) is a lawn game played by whacking a wooden ball with a mallet. It was all the rage in Europe in the 1800s, but people still play it worldwide, often at summer parties. When you play croquet, you have a colored wooden ball and a matching mallet. Players take turns trying to hit their balls under a series of hoops or to knock someone else’s out of the way. When Alice is in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts uses a flamingo as a mallet and a hedgehog for a ball, but that is not recommended. In Northern French dialect, croquet means "hockey stick," originally "shepherd's crook" in Old North French.
Vocabulary lists containing croquet
2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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English Words Derived from French, List 6
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Baseball in April
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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.
It’s croquet for people who like running on the tops of speeding trains.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
But, in a further embarrassment, he felt compelled to give up his country pile, Dorneywood, after being pictured on its lawns playing croquet with his staff - an image at odds with his down-to-earth reputation.
From BBC • Nov. 21, 2024
It’s also a great time to break out portable lawn games such as cornhole, croquet or a jumbo version of a classic indoor game like Jenga.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 15, 2024
At the end of the term last month at Eton, new students were in the town trying on cashmere uniform overcoats and shopping for color-coded socks for croquet, fencing or squash.
From New York Times • Jul. 6, 2023
So I set off all on my lonesome, across the croquet lawn.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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.
