dominos

dom·i·no ¹  (dm-n)

n. pl. dom·i·noes or dom·i·nos

1.

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.

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

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dom·i·no ²  (dm-n)

n. pl. dom·i·noes or dom·i·nos

1.

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.

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

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

dominos - any of several games played with small rectangular blocks dominoes table game - a game that is played on a table