bowling

/boʊlɪŋ/

/ˈbʌʊlɪŋ/

Other forms: bowlings

If you love bowling you're a fan of rolling a ball down a long lane and hoping it will knock down the pins at the end. The ball you roll is called a bowling ball.

Bowling classically involves very heavy balls that are rolled down the polished wood of a lane, with open gutters at each side, toward the ten pins arranged at the end. Other versions of bowling have smaller balls, differently shaped pins, and different numbers of pins — but the goal is always to knock as many of them over as possible. The game was originally known as "playing at bowls."

Definitions of bowling

1. noun

   a game in which balls are rolled at an object or group of objects with the aim of knocking them over or moving them
   types:

   tenpin bowling, tenpins

   bowling down an alley at a target of ten wooden pins

   ninepins, skittles

   a bowling game that is played by rolling a bowling ball down a bowling alley at a target of nine wooden pins

   duckpins

   a bowling game using a pin smaller than a tenpin but proportionately wider

   candlepin bowling, candlepins

   a bowling game using slender bowling pins

   bowls, lawn bowling

   a bowling game played on a level lawn with biased wooden balls that are rolled at a jack

   bocce, bocci, boccie

   a type bowling game played on a long narrow dirt court, originating in Italy

   type of:

   game

   a contest with rules to determine a winner
2. noun

   the playing of a game of tenpins or duckpins etc
   type of:

   playing

   the action of taking part in a game or sport or other recreation
3. noun

   (cricket) the act of delivering a cricket ball to the batsman
   types:

   Chinaman

   a ball bowled by a left-handed bowler to a right-handed batsman that spins from off to leg

   bosie, bosie ball, googly, wrong 'un

   a cricket ball bowled as if to break one way that actually breaks in the opposite way

   no ball

   unlawfully delivered ball in cricket

   type of:

   throw

   the act of throwing (propelling something with a rapid movement of the arm and wrist)