Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A game played by two people, each trying to make a line of three X's or three O's in a boxlike figure with nine spaces.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun games A game in which two players take turns putting circles and crosses on a 3x3 grid and try to get three of the same symbols in a line

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a game in which two players alternately put crosses and circles in one of the compartments of a square grid of nine spaces; the object is to get a row of three crosses or three circles before the opponent does

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably imitative of the sounds of the original children's game, in which players brought pencils down on a numbered slate with their eyes shut.]

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