Nearby Words

roulette wheel

[roo-let] Origin

rou·lette

[roo-let] noun, verb, -let·ted, -let·ting.
noun
1.
a game of chance played at a table marked off with numbers from 1 to 36, one or two zeros, and several other sections affording the players a variety of betting opportunities, and having in the center a revolving, dishlike device (roulette wheel) into which a small ball is spun to come to rest finally in one of the 37 or 38 compartments, indicating the winning number and its characteristics, as odd or even, red or black, and between 1 and 18 or 19 and 36.
2.
a small wheel, especially one with sharp teeth, mounted in a handle, for making lines of marks, dots, or perforations: engravers' roulettes; a roulette for perforating sheets of postage stamps.
3.
Philately. a row of short cuts, in which no paper is removed, made between individual stamps to permit their ready separation.
verb (used with object)
4.
to mark, impress, or perforate with a roulette.

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Roulette wheel is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

Origin:
1725–35; < French, diminutive of rouelle wheel. See rowel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

roulette
1734, "small wheel," from Fr. roulette "gambling game played with a revolving wheel," lit. "small wheel," from O.Fr. roelete "little wheel," on model of L.L. rotella, dim. of L. rota "wheel." The game of chance so-called from 1745.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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