diabolo

American  

[dee-ab-uh-loh] / diˈæb əˌloʊ /

noun

plural

diabolos

1. a game in which a toplike object is spun, thrown, and caught by or balanced on and whirled along a string the ends of which are fastened to the ends of two sticks that are manipulated by hand.

2. the top used in this game.

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diabolo British  

/ dɪˈæbəˌləʊ /

noun

1. a game in which one throws and catches a spinning top on a cord fastened to two sticks held in the hands

2. the top used in this game

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Etymology

Origin of diabolo

1905–10; < Italian: literally, devil

Example Sentences

In July, a diabolo instructor, Lu Chi-hsien, and four others were detained for allegedly setting up a spy network.

From BBC • Nov. 8, 2023

Leroux says circus mania starts young; his fourth-grade daughter’s gym curriculum includes spinning diabolo sticks.

From Washington Post • Nov. 5, 2015

The Smirnovs, quick-change artists, take the stage before Ms. España and the Anastasinis assemble for diabolo, a form of juggling.

From New York Times • Nov. 2, 2014

How the diabolo I, such an innocent stranger youth, had ever learned Spanish Gypsy—the least knowledge of which in Spain implies unfathomable iniquity p. 116and fastness—was beyond all comprehension. 

From Memoirs by Leland, Charles Godfrey

Sancho," cried Don Quixote, "I am afraid of being excommunicated for having laid violent hands upon a man in holy orders, Juxta illud; si quis suadente diabolo, &c.

From Mediaeval Tales by Morley, Henry