domino
/ˈdɒmɪnəʊ
/noun (plural dominoes)
1Any of 28 small oblong pieces marked with 0-6 pips in each half: everyone will fall over like a row of dominoes...
- The document then analyses three countries (Britain, Spain and Poland) in depth, with a view to identifying the weakest link or the domino piece most likely to fall first.
- It incorporates elements of both standard playing cards and dominoes, and with the right group of gamers to support it and invent new games for it, it could go far.
- To wire wrap your work, place the second and/or third piece of wire through the domino.
1.1 (dominoes) [treated as singular] The game played with dominoes, in which they are laid down to form a line, each player in turn trying to find and lay down a domino with a value matched by that of a piece at either end of the line already formed.At night, his teammates help him pass the time in his house, playing cards, dominoes and video games....
- Suddenly, the quiet game of dominoes is headline news.
- For men, a typical social game is dominoes or cards.
2 historical A loose cloak, worn with a mask for the upper part of the face at masquerades.There's a sense that possibly everyone knows who you are, yet wearing a mask (even a domino!) allows you to act differently from the way you might normally act....
- She asked, her hazel eyes peering out from the domino mask.
- The only way to differentiate between them was their domino masks.
Origin
Late 17th century: from French, denoting a hood worn by priests in winter, probably based on Latin dominus 'lord, master'.