canasta

ca·nas·ta

C0061000 (kə-năs′tə)n.1. A card game for two to six players, requiring two or three decks of cards, in which the object is to obtain melds of three or more cards of the same rank.2. A meld of seven cards having the same rank in this game.

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[Spanish canasta, basket, canasta (in reference to the container or tray used to hold the piles of undrawn and discarded cards when playing the game), from canasto, basket with a narrowing opening (influenced by cesta, basket), from Latin canistrum; see canister.]

canasta

(kəˈnæstə) n1. (Card Games) a card game for two to six players who seek to amass points by declaring sets of cards2. (Card Games) Also called: meld a declared set in this game, containing seven or more like cards, worth 500 points if the canasta is pure or 300 if wild (containing up to three jokers)[C20: from Spanish: basket (because two packs, or a basketful, of cards are required), variant of canastro, from Latin canistrum; see canister]

ca•nas•ta

(kəˈnæs tə)

n. a variety of rummy played with two decks of cards plus jokers. [1945–50; < Sp: literally, basket]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

canasta - a form of rummy using two decks of cards and four jokers; jokers and deuces are wild; the object is to form groups of the same rankbasket rummy, meldrum, rummy - a card game based on collecting sets and sequences; the winner is the first to meld all their cardsbolivia - a form of canasta in which sequences can be meldedsamba - a form of canasta using three decks of cards and six jokers

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