domino1

dom·i·no¹

(dŏm′ə-nō′)

n. pl. dom·i·noes or dom·i·nos

a. A small rectangular wood or plastic block, the face of which is divided into halves, each half being blank or marked by dots resembling those on dice.

b. dominoes or dominos(used with a sing. or pl. verb) A game played with a set of these small blocks, generally 28 in number.

2. A country expected to react politically to events as predicted by the domino theory: "The dominos did indeed fall in Indochina" (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).

[French, probably from domino, mask, perhaps because of the resemblance between the eyeholes and the spots on some of the tiles; see domino².]

dom·i·no²

(dŏm′ə-nō′)

n. pl. dom·i·noes or dom·i·nos

a. A costume consisting of a hooded robe worn with an eye mask at a masquerade.

b. The mask so worn.

2. One wearing this costume.

[French, probably from Latin (benedīcāmus) dominō, (let us praise) the Lord, dative of dominus, lord; see dem- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dominoes

(ˈdɒmɪˌnəʊz)

(Games, other than specified) (functioning as singular) any of several games in which matching halves of dominoes are laid together

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

dominoes - any of several games played with small rectangular blocks

dominos

table game - a game that is played on a table

Translations

لُعْبَةُ الدومينو

domino

dominobrikker

domino

domino

ドミノ

도미노

dominobrickor

เกมโดมิโน

domino oyunu

cờ domino

多米诺骨牌游戏

dominoes

→ لُعْبَةُ الدومينو domino dominobrikker Dominospiel ντόμινο dominó, dominós domino dominos domino domino ドミノ 도미노 domino's domino domino jogo de dominó домино dominobrickor เกมโดมิโน domino oyunu cờ domino 多米诺骨牌游戏

Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Some reading was done, and much smoking and sewing, though not by the same parties; there were the monsters of the deep to be looked after and wondered at; strange ships had to be scrutinized through opera-glasses, and sage decisions arrived at concerning them; and more than that, everybody took a personal interest in seeing that the flag was run up and politely dipped three times in response to the salutes of those strangers; in the smoking room there were always parties of gentlemen playing euchre, draughts and dominoes, especially dominoes, that delightfully harmless game; and down on the main deck, "for'rard"-- for'rard of the chicken-coops and the cattle--we had what was called "horse billiards." Horse billiards is a fine game.

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Then Jake and I played dominoes, while Otto wrote a long letter home to his mother.

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From every street and every corner drove carriages filled with clowns, harlequins, dominoes, mummers, pantomimists, Transteverins, knights, and peasants, screaming, fighting, gesticulating, throwing eggs filled with flour, confetti, nosegays, attacking, with their sarcasms and their missiles, friends and foes, companions and strangers, indiscriminately, and no one took offence, or did anything but laugh.

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Browning might say, as his wife said in an early preface, I never mistook pleasure for the final cause of poetry, nor leisure for the hour of the poet--as indeed he has himself said, to much the same effect, in a letter printed many years ago: I never pretended to offer such literature as should be a substitute for a cigar or a game at dominoes to an idle man."

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We must first admit that the devil plays any game at all, and then find out what game; possibly dominoes"

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Cruncher himself always spoke of the year of our Lord as Anna Dominoes: apparently under the impression that the Christian era dated from the invention of a popular game, by a lady who had bestowed her name upon it.)

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He was playing dominoes with a Frenchman, and greeted the new-comers with a quiet smile; he did not speak, but as if to make room for them pushed away the little pile of saucers on the table which indicated the number of drinks he had already consumed.

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The Accountant had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones.

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Besides the two men, a notched and disfigured bench, immovable from the wall, with a draught-board rudely hacked upon it with a knife, a set of draughts, made of old buttons and soup bones, a set of dominoes, two mats, and two or three wine bottles.

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Lying in bed all day and playing at dominoes, like poor Lord Plessy, would be more private and bearable."

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Said Selim's teeth rattled on the floor like dominoes. But he shouldn't have done it.

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"But I have provided for the contingency, my friends," replied Michel; "you have only to speak, and I have chess, draughts, cards, and dominoes at your disposal; nothing is wanting but a billiard-table."

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dominoes

dom·i·no 1

dom·i·no 2

dominoes

dominoes

dom·i·no¹

dom·i·no²