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massé

American  
[ma-sey, mas-ee] / mæˈseɪ, ˈmæs i /

noun

Billiards.

  1. a stroke made by hitting the cue ball with the cue held almost or quite perpendicular to the table.

massé British  
/ ˈmæsɪ /

noun

  1. billiards a stroke made by hitting the cue ball off centre with the cue held nearly vertically, esp so as to make the ball move in a curve around another ball before hitting the object ball

"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

Etymology

Origin of massé

1870–75; < French: literally, hammered, i.e., struck from above, straight down, equivalent to masse sledge hammer ( Old French mace; mace 1 ) + -é -ee

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.

"Colonel Stirling's," said Vaughan, making a brilliant massé.

From The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him by Ford, Paul Leicester

How could a man like that do such a massé?

From A Woman's Will by Caliga, I. H. (Isaac Henry)

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.