croquet

[ kroh-key; British kroh-key, -kee ]

noun
  1. a game played by knocking wooden balls through metal wickets with mallets.

  2. (in croquet) the act of driving away an opponent's ball by striking one's own when the two are in contact.

verb (used with object),cro·queted [kroh-keyd; British kroh-keyd, -keed], /kroʊˈkeɪd; British ˈkroʊ keɪd, -kid/, cro·quet·ing [kroh-key-ing; British kroh-key-ing, -kee-ing]. /kroʊˈkeɪ ɪŋ; British ˈkroʊ keɪ ɪŋ, -ki ɪŋ/.
  1. to drive away (a ball) by a croquet.

Origin of croquet

1
1855–60; <French (dial.): hockey stick, literally, little hook; see crocket

Words that may be confused with croquet

Words Nearby croquet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use croquet in a sentence

  • To half a tennis-lawn add two ounces of croquet-mallet and three arches of pergola, and reduce the whole to a fine powder.

  • croquet playing became so interesting to us that we could not find time to do all our playing during the day.

  • Then followed days of tennis and croquet, of picnics and teas with the Vicar's pretty daughters and the Squire's awkward sons.

    The Devourers | Annie Vivanti Chartres

British Dictionary definitions for croquet

croquet

/ (ˈkrəʊkeɪ, -kɪ) /


noun
  1. a game for two to four players who hit a wooden ball through iron hoops with mallets in order to hit a peg

  2. the act of croqueting

verb-quets (-keɪz, -kɪz), -queting (-keɪɪŋ, -kɪɪŋ) or -queted (-keɪd, -kɪd)
  1. to drive away (another player's ball) by hitting one's own ball when the two are in contact

Origin of croquet

1
C19: perhaps from French dialect, variant of crochet (little hook)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012