écarté

[ey-kahr-tey; British ey-kahr-tey; French ey-kar-tey]

noun

a card game for two players.

Origin of écarté

Borrowed into English from French around 1815–25

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ecarte

Historical Examples of ecarte

Ecarte and lansquenet were almost as much out of the question.
The Daltons, Volume I (of II)
Charles James Lever
Have a game of ecarte till I come back, unless you would like to wait for me.
Virgin Soil
Ivan S. Turgenev
I owe the Russian Prince 300 louis, lost to him last night at ecarte.
The Parisians, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Godolphin sat apart from the talkers playing a quiet game at ecarte.
Godolphin, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
You will say, Why not take to backgammon, or ecarte, or amuse yourself with a book?
The Fitz-Boodle Papers
William Makepeace Thackeray

British Dictionary definitions for ecarte

écarté

noun

a card game for two, played with 32 cards and king high

ballet

a body position in which one arm and the same leg are extended at the side of the body
(as adjective)the écarté position

Word Origin for écarté

C19: from French, from écarter to discard, from carte card 1

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 ecarte

card game for two played with 32 cards, 1824, from French écarté, literally "discarded," past participle of écarter "to discard," from e- (see ex-) + carte (see card (n.)).