skat

American  

[skaht, skat] / skɑt, skæt /

noun

1. a card game for three players, using a pack of 32 playing cards, sevens through aces, the object being to fulfill any of various contracts, with scoring computed on strategy and on tricks won.

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skat British  

/ skæt /

noun

1. a three-handed card game using 32 cards, popular in German-speaking communities

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Etymology

Origin of skat

1860–65; < German skat < Italian scarto, derivative of scartare to discard, equivalent to s- ex- ¹ + -cartare, derivative of carta card ¹

Example Sentences

In private, Bach seeks out good bottles of red wine — bad ones he calls Brühe, a German word for swill — and enjoys the card game skat.

From New York Times • Jul. 20, 2021

Nick Sweeney, London, UK Having lived in Denmark for a year, and gained a Danish girlfriend, I was surprised that the usual term of endearment is skat.

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2013

The first scene in Act II depicts a skat party.

From Time Magazine Archive

Strauss's fondness for skat, Wife Pauline's dislike of it, and a few other tensions of the Strauss household, once furnished Composer Strauss with a subject for an opera.

From Time Magazine Archive

Gradually we grow calmer and play skat and poker continually.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque