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billiards

 [bil-yerdz]   Origin

bil·liards

   [bil-yerdz]
noun (used with a singular verb)
any of several games played with hard balls of ivory or of a similar material that are driven with a cue on a cloth-covered table enclosed by a raised rim of rubber, especially a game played with a cue ball and two object balls on a table without pockets. Compare pool2 (def. 8).
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Origin:
1585–95; plural of billiard

Related forms
bil·liard·ist, noun

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an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

bil·liard

   [bil-yerd]
adjective
1.
of or used in billiards.
noun
2.
carom (def. 1).
Origin:
1630–40; < French billard cue, equivalent to bille stick (see billet2) + -ard -ard
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
billiards (ˈbɪljədz)
 
—n
1.  any of various games in which long cues are used to drive balls now made of composition or plastic. It is played on a rectangular table covered with a smooth tight-fitting cloth and having raised cushioned edges
2.  pool Compare snooker a version of this, played on a rectangular table having six pockets let into the corners and the two longer sides. Points are scored by striking one of three balls with the cue to contact the other two or one of the two
 
[C16: from Old French billard curved stick, from Old French bille log; see billet²]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

billiards
1590s, from Fr. billiard, originally the wooden cue stick, a dim. form from O.Fr. bille "stick of wood," from Gaul. *bilia "tree" (cf. Ir. bile "tree trunk").
EXPAND

billiard
sing. of billiards (q.v.), used only in combinations.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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