Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.
abundance abondance | a call of nine tricks in whist. |
ante | to put a fixed stake in the pot > ANTES, ANTEING, ANTED or ANTEED. |
baccara baccarat | a French card game. |
banker | a betting card game. |
basset | an old Venetian card game, resembling FARO. |
basto | the ace of clubs in QUADRILLE and OMBER > BASTOS. [Sp. basto, club]. |
bezique | a card game played with two decks of cards. |
blackjack | vingt-et-un, or a game like it. |
boston | a card game similar to WHIST. |
bouillotte | a card game resembling POKER. |
brag | a card-game like POKER; (verb) to boast. |
bridge | any of various card games, for two pairs of players, developed from whist. |
canasta | a card game similar to RUMMY. |
canfield | a card game adapted from PATIENCE. |
capot | to win all the tricks at the game of PIQUET > CAPOTS, CAPOTTING, CAPOTTED. |
cardcastle | a tower built with cards. |
cardplayer | one who plays cards. |
cardsharp cardsharper | one who practises deception at cards. |
cartomancer | one who practises CARTOMANCY. |
cartomancy | divination or the telling of fortunes using playing cards. |
casino cassino | a card game, played by two or more persons, usually for twenty-one points > CASINI or CASINOS; CASSINOS. |
cheat | a card game in which deception is allowed. |
chemmy | a card game, chemin de fer. |
cinch | a card game in which the five of trumps ranks highest. |
cinque | five; the number five in dice or cards. |
codille | a term at the card game OMBER, signifying that the game is won. |
conquian cooncan | a game resembling rummy. |
cribbage | a card-game in which player discards a certain number of cards. |
crossruff | to trump alternately. |
croupier | the dealer in a casino. |
deuce | the two in cards and dice. |
doubleton | two cards that are the only ones of their suit dealt to a player. |
drawbridge | bridge played by two people, with two dummy hands, not exposed. |
ecarte | a game in which cards may be discarded for others. |
endplay | in bridge, to play the last few tricks in a hand so that an opponent is forced to make a particular lead. |
euchre | a card game; (verb) to score over, to outwit. |
faro | a card game > FAROS. |
finesse | at bridge, an attempt by a player holding a higher card to take the trick with a lower card, risking loss. |
gin | a type of rummy in which a player whose unmatched cards count ten or less may stop the game. |
gleek | an old card game for three players, each having twelve cards, and eight being left for the stock. |
goulash | in bridge, a re-deal of cards that have been arranged in suits and order of value. |
grab | a simple card game depending upon prompt claiming. |
hazardry | playing at games of chance. |
hearts | a card game in which the object is to avoid taking tricks containing hearts or the queen of spades. |
jambone | a lone hand in EUCHRE. |
jeton jetton | a piece of stamped metal used as a counter in card-playing. |
kalooki kalookie kaluki | a card game similar to rummy, using two packs of cards and two jokers. |
klondike klondyke | a very rich source of wealth; a card game, a kind of patience; (verb) to export (fish, esp. mackerel or herring) while fresh, freq. to a foreign factory ship. |
lansquenet | a card game. |
lanterloo | a card game, an ancestral form of LOO. [Fr. lanturlu, a meaningless refrain]. |
loo | a card game; (verb) to subject to a forfeit at loo. |
lottery | a card game of chance. |
manille | in the card games OMBRE and QUADRILLE, the highest card but one. |
matador matadore | the three chief cards in the games OMBRE and QUADRILLE. |
matrimony | a card game of chance in which one of the winning combinations is that of king and queen. |
maw | an old card game played with a pack of 36. |
michigan | a card game, equivalent to NEWMARKET. |
misdeal | to deal wrongly > MISDEALS, MISDEALING, MISDEALT. |
misere | at cards, an undertaking to take no tricks. [Fr. = poverty, misery]. |
mistigris | a variation of poker in which a joker or blank card can be given any value; the card so used > MISTIGRISES. [Fr. mistigri, jack of clubs]. |
monte | a favorite gambling game among Spaniards, played with dice or cards. |
mournival | a set of four, especially a set of four court cards in one hand. [Fr. mornifle, a slap, a taunt]. |
muggins | a children's card-game > MUGGINSES. |
mumchance | a silent game with cards or dice. |
nap napoleon | a French modification of the game of EUCHRE, each player receiving five cards and playing as an individual. |
newmarket | a card game in which the stakes go to those who succeed in playing out cards whose duplicates lie on the table. |
noddy | an old game like cribbage; the jack in this and other games. |
nontrump | of a suit in cards, not TRUMP. |
omber ombre | a card game > OMBRES. [Sp. hombre, man]. |
outbid | to surpass in bidding. |
outraise | to exceed in raising e.g. in a bid at cards. |
outtrump | to surpass in trumping. |
overbid | to bid or offer more trumps than a hand justifies. |
overcall | in bridge, to outbid. |
overruff | at cards, to trump with a higher trump. |
overtrick | at bridge, a trick in excess of those contracted for. |
overtrump | to trump with a higher card than the trump already played. |
pam | the knave of clubs > PAMS. |
patience | a card game of various kinds, generally for one person, the object being to fit the cards, as they turn up, into some scheme. |
pedro | a card-game, aka sancho-pedro > PEDROS. |
pelmanism | a card game in which the cards are spread out face down and have to be picked up in matching pairs. |
penneech penneeck | an old card-game with a new trump for every trick. |
penuchle pinocle pinochle penuckle | a card game played with forty-eight cards, being all the cards above the eight spots in two packs. |
picquet piquet | a game for two with 32 cards; (verb) to tie to a stake. |
plafond | an early form of contract bridge. |
poker | a card game in which players bet on their hands and the winning player takes the pool of staked money. |
pokie | a poker machine. |
pone | the card player on the dealer's right responsible for cutting the cards. |
pontoon | a card game of chance, or the winning score of 21 points which is its object. |
primero | an old card game > PRIMEROS. |
quadrille | a four-handed game with 40 cards, similar to ombre; (verb) to play quadrille. |
quatorze | the four aces, kings, queens, knaves or tens in pique, counting fourteen. |
quatre | a card, die, or domino, having four spots, or pips. |
quinze | a card game. |
rebid | to bid again. |
redeal | to deal again. |
repique | at piquet, the winning of thirty points or more; (verb) to score a repique. |
reversis | an old card game in which the taker of fewest tricks wins > REVERSISES. |
revie | to stake more than an opponent has proposed on > REVIES, REVYING, REVIED. |
rounce | an American card game. |
rubicon | the winning of a game in piquet before one's opponent scores; (verb) to win in this way > RUBICONS, RUBICONING, RUBICONED. [L. Rubico, a stream in Italy]. |
ruff | to play a trump card when one cannot follow through. |
rummy | a card game in which players try to collect sequences or sets of three or four cards of the same kind; (adj.) queer > RUMMIER, RUMMIEST; RUMMILY. |
schneid | a series of losses. |
septleva | (in the game of basset) seven times as much added to the first stake. [Fr. sept-et-le-va]. |
sheephead | a trick-taking card game originating in Germany. |
showdown | in poker, the exposure of players' cards face up on on the table at the end of the game. |
shutout | at bridge, a bid intended to stop opponents from bidding. |
singleton | a playing card that is the only one of its suit in a player's hand. |
skat | a card game for three persons, resembling solo whist. |
slapjack | a card game in which players try to win the pack by being the first to slap a hand over the jack, as it is turned over on top of the pile. |
sluff | to discard a card or cards. |
snap | a type of card game in which the first player to shout 'snap' on spotting a matching pair of cards wins all the cards on the table. |
solitaire | a game played by one person with a board and balls, pegs, etc. |
spadille spadillio spadillo | the ace of spades in the game of OMBRE. |
spoilfive | a certain game at cards in which, if no player wins three of the five tricks possible on any deal, the game is said to be spoiled. |
spoof | a card game; (verb) to trick, hoax. |
stud | a form of POKER. |
switch | a changeover (esp in cards to another suit, led or called). |
tablanette | a variant of the card game CASSINO. |
tarabish | a trick-taking card game popular in Nova Scotia. |
taroc tarok tarot | a card of a type originating in Italy with an allegorical picture; a set, traditionally consisting of 78 such cards, used in card games and esp fortune-telling; (usu in pl) a game played with tarots together with cards of the ordinary suits. |
tenace | the holding by the fourth hand of the best and third best cards of a suit led; also, sometimes, the combination of best with third best card of a suit in any hand. [Sp. tenaza, pincers]. |
tiddy | very small > TIDDIER, TIDDIEST; (noun) the four of trumps at the game of GLEEK. |
towie | a form of contract BRIDGE. |
tredille tredrille | a card game for three. |
trey | the three in cards or dice. |
trez | the three in cards or dice > TREZES. |
trump | a card of a suit that ranks higher than any card of any other suit; (verb) to play a trump card instead of following suit, to outdo. |
trumpless | without a TRUMP. |
undealt | not dealt. |
undertrick | in BRIDGE, a trick short of the number declared. |
undertrump | to play a lower trump on a trick to which a higher trump has already been played. |
vint | a game like contract BRIDGE; (verb) to gather grapes. |
whist | a card game played by two against two, in which the object is to take a majority of the thirteen tricks, each trick over six scoring one point. |
yarborough | a type of hand at bridge. |