bowling

[boh-ling] /ˈboʊ lɪŋ/
noun
1.
any of several games in which players standing at one end of an alley or green roll balls at standing objects or toward a mark at the other end, especially a game in which a heavy ball is rolled from one end of a wooden alley at wooden pins set up at the opposite end.
Compare boccie, candlepin (def 2), duckpin (def 2), lawn bowling, ninepin (def 2), tenpin (def 2).
2.
the game of bowls.
3.
an act or instance of playing or participating in any such game:
Bowling is a pleasant way to exercise.
Origin
1525-35; bowl2 + -ing1

bowl1

[bohl] /boʊl/
noun
1.
a rather deep, round dish or basin, used chiefly for holding liquids, food, etc.
2.
the contents of a bowl:
a bowl of tomato soup.
3.
a rounded, cuplike, hollow part:
the bowl of a pipe.
4.
a large drinking cup.
5.
festive drinking; conviviality.
6.
any bowl-shaped depression or formation.
7.
an edifice with tiers of seats forming sides like those of a bowl, having the arena at the bottom; stadium.
8.
Also called bowl game. a football game played after the regular season by teams selected by the sponsors of the game, usually as representing the best from a region of the country:
the Rose Bowl.
9.
Typography. a curved or semicircular line of a character, as of a, d, b, etc.
verb (used with object)
10.
to give (a floor) a gentle inclination on all sides toward some area, as a stage or platform.
Origin
before 950; Middle English bolle, Old English bolla; cognate with Old Norse bolli. See boll
Related forms
bowllike, adjective

bowl2

[bohl] /boʊl/
noun
1.
one of the balls, having little or no bias, used in playing ninepins or tenpins.
2.
one of the biased or weighted balls used in lawn bowling.
3.
bowls, (used with a singular verb) lawn bowling.
4.
a delivery of the ball in bowling or lawn bowling.
5.
(formerly) a rotating cylindrical part in a machine, as one to reduce friction.
verb (used without object)
6.
to play at bowling or bowls; participate in or have a game or games of bowling.
7.
to roll a bowl or ball.
8.
to move along smoothly and rapidly.
9.
Cricket. to deliver the ball to be played by the batsman.
verb (used with object)
10.
to roll or trundle, as a ball or hoop.
11.
to attain by bowling:
He bowls a good game. She usually bowls a 120 game, but today she bowled 180.
12.
to knock or strike, as by the ball in bowling (usually followed by over or down).
13.
to carry or convey, as in a wheeled vehicle.
14.
Cricket. to eliminate (a batsman) by bowling (usually followed by out):
He was bowled for a duck. He was bowled out for a duck.
Verb phrases
15.
bowl over, to surprise greatly:
We were bowled over by the news.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule < Middle French < Latin bulla bubble, knob; cf. boil1, bola
Examples from the web for bowling
  • Nor would the fact that you don't know the difference between a astronomical spheroid and a bowling ball.
  • Think in terms of the rubber sheet description of gravity, with the bowling ball deforming the sheet.
  • The long workbench and shelving in this garage are made from sections of a yellow pine bowling-alley lane.
  • Those players were alleged to have offered to throw matches, a far more heinous crime than bowling a no-ball.
  • It is the same thing as bowling or curling or darts.
  • There were bowling outings and birthday parties, and there was even a small gym.
  • The bowling ball's weight deforms the medium of the mattress, and the deformed medium influences the marble's movement.
  • In the world of quantum physics, thanks to the uncertainty principle, a flea can indeed throw a bowling ball to another flea.
  • He also enjoyed bowling and became rather good at it.
  • If you drop a bowling ball on your bare foot, it hurts.
British Dictionary definitions for bowling

bowling

/ˈbəʊlɪŋ/
noun
1.
any of various games in which a heavy ball is rolled down a special alley, usually made of wood, at a group of wooden pins, esp the games of tenpin bowling (tenpins) and skittles (ninepins)
2.
the game of bowls
3.
(cricket) the act of delivering the ball to the batsman
4.
(modifier) of or relating to bowls or bowling: a bowling team

bowl1

/bəʊl/
noun
1.
a round container open at the top, used for holding liquid, keeping fruit, serving food, etc
2.
Also bowlful. the amount a bowl will hold
3.
the rounded or hollow part of an object, esp of a spoon or tobacco pipe
4.
any container shaped like a bowl, such as a sink or lavatory
5.
(mainly US) a bowl-shaped building or other structure, such as a football stadium or amphitheatre
6.
a bowl-shaped depression of the land surface See also dust bowl
7.
(literary)
  1. a drinking cup
  2. intoxicating drink
Word Origin
Old English bolla; related to Old Norse bolli, Old Saxon bollo

bowl2

/bəʊl/
noun
1.
a wooden ball used in the game of bowls, having flattened sides, one side usually being flatter than the other in order to make it run on a curved course
2.
a large heavy ball with holes for gripping with the fingers and thumb, used in tenpin bowling
verb
3.
to roll smoothly or cause to roll smoothly, esp by throwing underarm along the ground
4.
(intransitive) usually foll by along. to move easily and rapidly, as in a car
5.
(cricket)
  1. to send (a ball) down the pitch from one's hand towards the batsman, keeping the arm straight while doing so
  2. Also bowl out. to dismiss (a batsman) by delivering a ball that breaks his wicket
6.
(intransitive) to play bowls or tenpin bowling
7.
(transitive) (in tenpin bowling) to score (a specified amount): he bowled 120
See also bowl over, bowls
Word Origin
C15: from French boule, ultimately from Latin bulla bubble
Word Origin and History for bowling
n.

1530s, originally "playing at bowls," verbal noun from bowl (v.). Bowling alley is from 1550s.

bowl

n.

Old English bolla "pot, cup, bowl," from Proto-Germanic *bul- "a round vessel" (cf. Old Norse bolle, Old High German bolla), from PIE *bhl-, from root *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole).

v.

"to roll a ball on the ground," typically as part of a game or contest, mid-15c., from bowl "wooden ball" (see bowls). Specifically of cricket from 1755; cricket use is source of late 19c. expressions bowl over, etc. Related: Bowled; bowling.

Slang definitions & phrases for bowling

bowl

Related Terms

goldfish bowl, rust bowl


bowl

Related Terms

goldfish bowl, rust bowl


bowling in the Bible

The sockets of the lamps of the golden candlestick of the tabernacle are called bowls (Ex. 25:31, 33, 34; 37:17, 19, 20); the same word so rendered being elsewhere rendered "cup" (Gen. 44:2, 12, 16), and wine "pot" (Jer. 35:5). The reservoir for oil, from which pipes led to each lamp in Zechariah's vision of the candlestick, is called also by this name (Zech. 4:2, 3); so also are the vessels used for libations (Ex. 25:29; 37:16).