noun
billiards
BIL-yerdz/ˈbɪljərdz/
A sport played by striking balls with a cue on a cloth-covered table.
They play billiards on the cloth-covered table after dinner.
Etymology
The name originally referred to the wooden cue stick rather than the balls or table. In English, its plural form became the name of the game played with those sticks.
In context
on a full sized 12 foot by six foot table people might be familiar with this size table through watching snooker but in fact the table was originally designed for billiards
More examples
- She practices her billiards technique every weekend.
- The hotel has a room devoted to billiards.
- A precise understanding of angles helps in billiards.
Similar words
- pool
- A cue sport usually involving pockets and a specified ball set.
- snooker
- A cue sport with its own colored balls and scoring rules.