billiards
/ˈbɪljədz
/plural noun [usually treated as singular]
A game for two people, played on a billiard table, in which three balls are struck with cues into pockets round the edge of the table: play billiards at home (as modifier billiard) a billiard ball...
- But in professional carom, unlike in billiards, the cue ball has to hit three cushions during the shot.
- The battalion chapel and a game room with billiards and ping-pong tables were also located in the DFAC building.
- First it was indoor swimming pools, then came indoor tennis, of course the huge influx of indoor sports like snooker, billiards, table tennis became hot favourites.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French billard, denoting both the game and the cue, diminutive of bille (see billet2).
French billard, ‘little tree trunk’ was originally the name of the cue for the game, but was soon transferred to the game itself. The word is also the source of billet (Late Middle English) for a thick piece of wood. The French comes from medieval Latin billa, billus ‘branch, trunk’, probably from a Celtic root.