(billiards) In the balk-line game, any of eight spaces, 7 × 3½ inches, lying along a cushion and bisected transversely by a balk line. Object balls in an anchor space are treated as in balk.
(transitive, cue sports) To hamper (oneself or one's opponent) by leaving the cue ball in the jaws of a pocket such that the surround of the pocket (the "angle") blocks the path from cue ball to object ball.
In billiards, a circumstance in which a fault by another player, such as a scratch, permits the competitor to take the cue ball in hand and place it anywhere on the table.
(sports) In the games of crown green bowls and lawn bowls: a weight added to one side of a bowl so that as it rolls, it will follow a curved rather than a straight path; the oblique line followed by such a bowl; the lopsided shape or structure of such a bowl. In lawn bowls, the curved course is caused only by the shape of the bowl. The use of weights is prohibited.
(countable, cue sports, especially 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.
A family of billiards games generally played on cloth-covered, pocketless tables, which often feature heated slate beds, typically having as the objective to score points or "counts" by caroming one's own cue ball off both the opponent's cue ball and the object ball(s) on a single shot.
Alternative spelling of carom [(countable, cue sports, especially 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.]
(sports, billiards, snooker, pool) A sidespin of the cue ball which makes it bounce off the cush, or off another ball, at a shallower angle than normal.
Alternative form of check side [(sports, billiards, snooker, pool) A sidespin of the cue ball which makes it bounce off the cush, or off another ball, at a shallower angle than normal.]
A pocket billiards game for two players, combining the play of eight-ball (except by shooting object balls into the cue ball instead of the other way round) with the shooting style of carom billiards games.
Alternative spelling of Chinese snooker [(snooker) A reverse snooker position where the cue ball is in front of, rather than behind, a ball that is not on, making the shot very difficult because the bridge is hampered and the cueing angle is unnaturally high.]
(snooker) A type of double of the called ball off three cushions, usually around the colours, with the aim of potting into the centre pocket while keeping the cue ball safe.
(of a shot in snooker or other cue sports) With just enough weight for a ball to drop into a pocket, or come to rest in a precisely determined position.
(snooker, pool) To cause a ball to become more open and available to be played on later. Usually by moving it away from the cushion, or by opening a pack.
(cue sports) The event of the cue ball making contact twice with the object ball. The second contact normally occurs after one or both balls have bounced off a cushion, and is not normally intentional.
(billiards) To strike (the cue ball) below the center so as to give it a backward rotation which causes it to take a backward direction on striking another ball.
Alternative form of eight-ball [(uncountable) A pocket billiards (pool) game played with sixteen balls (a cue ball and fifteen object balls) on a pool table with six pockets.]
(pool, billiards) In a manner so that the driven ball strikes the object ball so far to one side as to be barely deflected, the object ball being driven to one side.
(sports, snooker) The ball that will take the player's score past the theoretical winning point, even though the frame is not finished and there are still some balls remaining on the table.
A pocket billiards game using numbered markers, called peas or pills, and a standard set of sixteen pool balls. Players draw peas at random from a shake bottle, which assigns to them the correspondingly numbered pool ball, kept secret from their opponents, but which they must pocket in order to win the game.
(snooker) A method of deciding which player shall start. Both players simultaneously strike a cue ball from the baulk line to hit the top cushion and rebound down the table; the player whose ball finishes closest to the baulk cushion wins.
(billiards) The arrangement of balls in play that remains after a shot is made (which determines whether the next shooter — who may be either the same player, or an opponent — has good options, or only poor ones).
(English billiards) The situation where one's cue ball bounces off another ball and then sinks into a pocket. If the ball bounced off is the red ball, then three points are scored; but if it is the opponent's cue ball, then two points are scored.
(snooker) The highest score possible in one visit to the table in a frame of snooker, by potting all fifteen reds with fifteen blacks and the six colours in order.
Alternative spelling of nine-ball [A form of pool in which players must hit with the cue ball the object ball with the lowest numerical value, but may legally pot any ball apart from the white; whichever player pots the nine ball wins the game.]
A form of pool in which players must hit with the cue ball the object ball with the lowest numerical value, but may legally pot any ball apart from the white; whichever player pots the nine ball wins the game.
(sports, billiards, pool, snooker) An indention and cavity with a net sack or similar structure (into which the balls are to be struck) at each corner and one centered on each side of a pool or snooker table.
(sports) A cue sport played on a pool table. There are 15 balls, 7 of one colour, 7 of another, and the black ball (also called the 8 ball). A player must pocket all their own colour balls and then the black ball in order to win.
(billiards) In nine ball pool, an optional shot after a legal break shot where a player is allowed to hit any ball first, or not any, as well as not hit a rail, and the opponent can choose who shoots the next shot.
(snooker) In a frame that ends in both players having the same score, a tiebreaker where the black is put on its spot and the first player must play from the D until one player pots the black.
(sports, billiards, snooker, pool) To cue the cue ball in such a way as to impart backspin. On impact, the ball will follow a reverse trajectory according to the spin.
Alternative spelling of skee ball [An early arcade redemption game in which balls are rolled up an inclined lane, aimed at holes of various point values.]
(cue sports) A two-piece cue with a nearly invisible wood-to-wood joint, so that it looks like a cheap one-piece house cue and may be deceptively used by hustlers.
(snooker, billiards) A stick with a convex arch-shaped notched head used to support the cue when the cue ball is out of reach at normal extension; a bridge.
(billiards) The pocketing of the red ball in a top corner pocket from off its own spot so as to leave the cue ball in position for an easy winning hazard in either top corner pocket.
(billiards) Part of the game of billiards, where the order of the play is determined by testing who can get a ball closest to the bottom rail by shooting it onto the end rail.
A form of pool in which players must hit with the cue ball the object ball with the lowest numerical value, and must call the ball to be potted (which may or may not be the object ball initially struck). Any ball apart from the white may be legally potted; whichever player pots the ten ball wins the game (unless it is potted on the break, in which case it is spotted and play continues).
(English billiards) When one's cue ball strikes some other ball and causes that other ball to sink into a pocket. If the sunken ball is the red ball then one scores three points, but if the sunken ball is the other player's cue ball then one scores two points.
(snooker) The spot on a snooker table where the yellow ball is normally placed.
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