skittle

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skit·tle

(skĭt′l)

1. skittles(used with a sing. verb) A British form of ninepins, in which a wooden disk or ball is thrown to knock down the pins.

2. One of the pins used in skittles.

[Perhaps of Scandinavian origin.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

skittle

(ˈskɪtəl)

1. (Bowls & Bowling) a wooden or plastic pin, typically widest just above the base

2. (Bowls & Bowling) (plural; functioning as singular) Also called (esp US): ninepins a bowling game in which players knock over as many skittles as possible by rolling a wooden ball at them

3. beer and skittles (often used with a negative) informal an easy time; amusement

[C17: of obscure origin; perhaps related to Swedish, Danish skyttel shuttle]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

skit•tle

(ˈskɪt l)

n. Chiefly Brit.

1. skittles, (used with a sing. v.) ninepins in which a wooden ball or disk is used to knock down the pins.

2. one of the pins used in this game.

[1625–35; perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse skutill shuttle, arrow, Dan skyttel shuttle]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	skittle - a bowling pin of the type used in playing ninepins or (in England) skittles ninepin, skittle pin bowling pin, pin - a club-shaped wooden object used in bowling; set up in triangular groups of ten as the target
Verb	1.	skittle - play skittles bowl - engage in the sport of bowling; "My parents like to bowl on Friday nights"

Translations

قَنّينَه

kuželka

kegle

Kegel

quille

tekebábu

keila

birillo

kėglis

ķeglis

kolok

kuka

九柱游戏用的小柱

skittle

[ˈskɪtl]

A. N → bolo m
skittles → el juego de bolos
to play skittles → jugar a los bolos

B. CPD skittle alley N → bolera f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

skittle

[ˈskɪt^əl]

n → quille f

skittles npl (= game) → jeu m de quilles, quilles fplskittle alley n → piste f de jeu de quilles, jeu m de quilles

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

skittle

n (Brit) → Kegel m; to play skittles → kegeln; skittle alley → Kegelbahn f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

skittle

[ˈskɪtl] n → birillo skittles npl (game) → (gioco dei) birilli mpl
to play skittles → giocare a birilli
it isn't all beer and skittles (fam) → non è tutto rose e fiori

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

skittle

(ˈskitl) noun

a bottle-shaped, usually wooden object used as a target for knocking over in the game of skittles.

ˈskittles noun singular

a game in which the players try to knock down a number of skittles with a ball. a game of skittles; Do you play skittles?; (also adjective) a skittles match.

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

At the ninth stroke, a third young gentleman emerged from the door leading to the skittle ground, and bowing low, awaited his commands.

He looked with an indifferent eye, alike on skittles, cards, and dice, thinking only of the locksmith's daughter, and the base degenerate days on which he had fallen.

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At the appointed hour arrives the coroner, for whom the jurymen are waiting and who is received with a salute of skittles from the good dry skittle-ground attached to the Sol's Arms.

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Sir Joseph knocked the pins about quite skilfully; Master Bowley took an innings at a shorter distance also; and everybody said that now, when a Baronet and the Son of a Baronet played at skittles, the country was coming round again, as fast as it could come.

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('Now,' thought Mr Boffin, 'if he proposes a game at skittles, or meets a country gentleman just come into property, or produces any article of jewellery he has found, I'll knock him down!' With this discreet reflection, and carrying his stick in his arms much as Punch carries his, Mr Boffin turned into Clifford's Inn aforesaid.)

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'Ah, that's just the wery thing, Sir,' rejoined Sam, 'they don't mind it; it's a reg'lar holiday to them--all porter and skittles. It's the t'other vuns as gets done over vith this sort o' thing; them down-hearted fellers as can't svig avay at the beer, nor play at skittles neither; them as vould pay if they could, and gets low by being boxed up.

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"They received me and my news as one receives a dog in a game of skittles," said he in conclusion.

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Life isn't all beer and skittles; but beer and skittles, or something better of the same sort, must form a good part of every Englishman's education.

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Come, I'm not here to play skittles. Are you on for a deal or not?

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Norton, I met with a court chaplain, who was looking on at a party playing at skittles, and an old servant who named me, bursting into tears, and who was as near and as certainly killing me by his fidelity as another might have been by treachery.

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Here they work, read, play at skittles, and other games; and when the weather does not admit of their taking exercise out of doors, pass the day together.

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But I heard, afterwards, that he was seen to play a lively game at skittles, before noon.

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