Chiefly plural. Certain cards at the game of whist (see first quot. 1699), which entitled the holder to part of the stakes. whisk and swabbers: a…

whist with only twelve cards in each hand. Obsolete.

A card game, allied to whist, named after the siege of Boston in the American War of Independence, to which the technical terms of the game refer.

In various uses of the plural. Short whist. (See whist, n.3)

Whist. In plural = long whist n. at compounds 4a. Obsolete.

see sense 2.

Cards. Usually in form Preference. A game resembling whist, usually played by three people with a pack of 32 cards, in which the trump is determined…

solo whist, heart solo (see quots. 1898 at sense A. 5a 1907); also elliptical.

In plural (with singular agreement). Usually with capital initial. A card game of which the object is to avoid taking a trick containing a heart…

progressive whist; spec. a form of this in which the losing players move from one group or table to another after each round.

a variety of whist in which the dealer's side names the trumps and in which the suits have different values.

a type of whist in which the hands are replayed by different persons.

elliptical for duplicate bridge, whist (see sense A. 5 above). Also attributive.

Originally U.S. straight poker, straight whist, etc.: the game in its unmodified form. straight four, straight five, straight six, straight flush…