tombola

American  

[tom-buh-luh] / ˈtɒm bə lə /

noun

British.

tombolas plural

1. house.

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tombola British  

/ tɒmˈbəʊlə /

noun

1. a type of lottery, esp at a fête, in which tickets are drawn from a revolving drum

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tombolas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tombola

1875–80; < Italian, derivative of tombolare to tumble, itself derivative of tombare to fall

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tombola tombolas

The conventional group campaign concludes in November, while the final trio will be tossed into the big Uefa tombola after play-offs in March next year.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2023

They called it the "Willmott tombola", as they never knew what they would pull out.

From BBC ● May 27, 2022

They were hanging on towards the end but are safely into the FA tombola for the fourth round.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 8, 2022

All had been plucked from the same script tombola, stuffed with tickets reading sister, honour, paradise, cell, vest, mosque, mobile, detonate.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 20, 2019

I tried to make a tombola, and succeeded admirably.

From Harper's Young People, May 18, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

Fortunately, however, "tubs" recover their equilibrium almost as easily as tombolas, and "the Sylph" did not belie its character; so the freshman again assumed a proper position, and was shoved off with a boat-hook.

From Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green by Bede, Cuthbert

And lo! there are four tombolas: but we await them not.

From From the Oak to the Olive A Plain record of a Pleasant Journey by Howe, Julia Ward

Their way of keeping it holy, however, with tombolas, horse-races, and fire-works, strikes a heretic, to say the least, oddly.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, June, 1862 Devoted To Literature and National Policy by Various