Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A collision followed by a rebound.
- noun A shot in billiards in which the cue ball successively strikes two other balls.
- noun A similar shot in a related game, such as pool.
- intransitive verb To collide and rebound; glance.
- intransitive verb To make a carom, as in billiards.
- intransitive verb To cause to carom.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In billiards, to make a carom (which see).
- To strike or collide against a thing and then rebound or glance off again; cannon: usually with on, and common in racing slang: as, Eclipse caromed on High-flyer and injured his chance of winning.
- Also spelled
carrom . - noun In billiards, the hitting of two or three balls in succession by the cue-ball from one stroke of the cue: in Great Britain sometimes called
cannon . Also spelledcarrom .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb (Billiards) To make a carom.
- noun (Billiards) A shot in which the ball struck with the cue comes in contact with two or more balls on the table; a hitting of two or more balls with the player's ball. In England it is called
cannon .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun cue sports A
shot in which theball struck with thecue comes in contact with two or moreballs on thetable ; a hitting of two or more balls with the player's ball; in England it is calledcannon . - noun An Indian game played on a board measuring one meter by one meter square. Players take turns flicking checker-like pieces into one of four goals on the corners of the table. This billiard-like game is played entirely with the fingers, and usually while sitting on the floor.
- verb intransitive To make a carom.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb rebound after hitting
- noun a glancing rebound
- verb make a carom
- noun a shot in billiards in which the cue ball contacts one object ball and then the other
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But the word "carom" sparked an idea and an invention.
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He poked his stick behind Kolzig's skate on the first one and wristed in a long carom from the goalie on the second.
USATODAY.com 2007
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But even after Paraguay forward Fredy Bareiro scored off a carom from the goalpost in the 67th minute, Iraq pressed hard with substitute Razzaq Farhan scoring in the 83rd.
USATODAY.com - Iraq's plucky soccer team loses chance for gold medal 2004
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A carom was a strike and a rebound that hit another ball.
City of Glory Beverly Swerling 2007
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A carom was a strike and a rebound that hit another ball.
City of Glory Beverly Swerling 2007
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The long stick, which reminded some early users of a tail, can be used to make a ball hit another ball in a form of the game known as carom billiards, played with only three balls by real hustlers on a table with no pockets.
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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The long stick, which reminded some early users of a tail, can be used to make a ball hit another ball in a form of the game known as carom billiards, played with only three balls by real hustlers on a table with no pockets.
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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Duc Nguyen, 44, said French billiards - also known as carom billiards -- is a popular game among Vietnamese, and he is banking his business on the city's fast-growing Southeast Asian community.
azcentral.com | news Angelique Soenarie 2010
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The meaning comes from Billiards, where a carom is a shot in which the cue ball is made to rebound so as to hit two other balls.
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I decided to make a "carom" of it, and nearly took the heads off a pair of horses, and the pole off the omnibus to which they were attached, as I dashed through.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 22, January, 1873 Various
mariacristina commented on the word carom
n. a collision followed by a rebound. "pinballs caroming off cushions." TC Boyle, Drop City
March 3, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word carom
"'How many people are in here, do you think?'
'Sixty-eight, last time I counted.... They come in and out, though, so I canna be quite sure. And I didna count the weans,' he added, moving slightly to avoid collision as a trio of small boys caromed through the crowd and shot past us, giggling."
—Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross (NY: Bantam Dell, 2001), 545
January 21, 2010