BOWLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bowling mean? 

• BOWLING (noun)
  The noun BOWLING has 3 senses:

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

2. (cricket) the act of delivering a cricket ball to the batsman

3. the playing of a game of tenpins or duckpins etc

  Familiarity information: BOWLING used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOWLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("bowling" is a kind of...):

game (a contest with rules to determine a winner)

Meronyms (parts of "bowling"):

frame (one of the ten divisions into which bowling is divided)

Domain member category:

pocket ((bowling) the space between the headpin and the pins behind it on the right or left)

convert (score (a spare))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bowling"):

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 (Italian bowling played on a long narrow dirt court)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("bowling" is a kind of...):

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

Domain category:

cricket (a game played with a ball and bat by two teams of 11 players; teams take turns trying to score runs)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bowling"):

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The playing of a game of tenpins or duckpins etc

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("bowling" is a kind of...):

playing (the action of taking part in a game or sport or other recreation)

Meronyms (parts of "bowling"):

bowl; roll (the act of rolling something (as the ball in bowling))

run-up (the approach run during which an athlete gathers speed)

Domain member category:

bowl (roll (a ball))

 Context examples 

A question about moderate activities such as moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling, or playing golf.

(Moderate Activities Such As Moving a Table, Pushing a Vacuum Cleaner, Bowling, or Playing Golf, NCI Thesaurus)

Walking or biking to school, dancing, bowling and yoga are some other ways for kids to get exercise.

(Exercise for Children, NIH)

These include eating foods rich in calcium and vitamin D and doing weight-bearing exercise such as walking, bowling or dancing.

(Bone Density, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

Soon we were past the high lands and bowling beside low, sandy country, sparsely dotted with dwarf pines, and soon we were beyond that again and had turned the corner of the rocky hill that ends the island on the north.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

We were now outside Thornfield gates, and bowling lightly along the smooth road to Millcote, where the dust was well laid by the thunderstorm, and, where the low hedges and lofty timber trees on each side glistened green and rain-refreshed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)