pinochle

[pee-nuhk-uh l, -nok-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pinochle ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a popular card game played by two, three, or four persons, with a 48-card deck.

a meld of the queen of spades and the jack of diamonds in this game.

Also penuchle, penuckle, pi·noc·le.

Origin of pinochle

1860–65, Americanism; < Swiss German Binokel, Binoggel < Swiss French binocle literally, pince-nez (see binocle¹), probably adopted as synonym of the less current French besicles spectacles, folk-etymological alteration of bezigue bezique

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

Related Words for pinochle

poker, roulette, bridge, lottery, bingo, canasta, gin, lotto, pinochle, twenty-one

Examples from the Web for pinochle

Contemporary Examples of pinochle

It's a diversion, much like pinochle or gin rummy were in the days when there were only three TV channels.
Newt Gingrich Isn’t Doomed, Even After a Failed Presidential Campaign
Rich Galen
May 2, 2012

Historical Examples of pinochle

He's no sport at all, except maybe when it comes to pinochle.
Torchy and Vee
Sewell Ford
Dirty trick to break up a pinochle game in weather like this.
Cue for Quiet
Thomas L. Sherred
"Got change for a dollar, an' I'll settle that pinochle debt," offered the sergeant.
The Drums Of Jeopardy
Harold MacGrath
It was like him to forget all about the herder and the promise of pinochle that night.
The Uphill Climb
B. M. Bower
The house was peaceful, that evening, and he enjoyed a game of pinochle with his wife.
Babbitt
Sinclair Lewis

British Dictionary definitions for pinochle

pinochle

penuchle, penuckle or pinocle

noun

a card game for two to four players similar to bezique

the combination of queen of spades and jack of diamonds in this game

Word Origin for pinochle

C19: of unknown origin

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 pinochle

also pinocle, 1864, Peaknuckle, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Swiss dialect Binokel (German), binocle (French), from French binocle "pince-nez" (17c.), from Medieval Latin binoculus "binoculars" (see binocular). Taken as a synonym for bésigue "bezique," the card game, and wrongly identified with besicles "spectacles," probably because the game is played with a double deck. Pinochle was popularized in U.S. late 1800s by German immigrants.