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eight ball

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eight⋅ball

  [eyt-bawl]
Use eight ball in a Sentence
–noun
1. Pool.
a. a black ball bearing the number eight.
b. a game in which one player or side must pocket all of either the solid-color balls or the striped ones before being permitted to attempt the pocketing of the eightball, which wins.
2. Slang. an inept person.
—Idiom
3. behind the eightball, Informal. in a difficult, disadvantageous, or uncomfortable situation: He hasn't studied all term, and now he's behind the eightball.
Origin:
1930–35, Americanism; eight + ball 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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eight ball  
n.   Games
A black pool ball that bears the number eight and that may put a player at a disadvantage.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

eight ball

popular American pocket-billiards game in which 15 balls numbered consecutively and a white cue ball are used. Those numbered 1-7 are solid colours; 9-15 are white with a single thick stripe in varying colours; and the eight ball is black. To begin, the balls are racked in a pyramid with the eight ball in the centre. One player or a side plays numbers 1-7, while the other plays 9-15; but choice of group is not made until a ball is legally pocketed. Once a side has pocketed all of its group, that side tries to pocket the eight ball and thus win the game. Should a player pocket the eight ball before all of his group is sunk, or misplay the eight ball (as by playing it into a pocket other than the pocket designated before the shot), that player loses.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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