Meaning of "gambled" in "whose wasted right hand gambled against his left" (Aurora Leigh) From Aurora Leigh \- what is the meaning of **gambled** here? It's hard to understand. I first thought his wasted right hand was somehow pinned to his left one using the brass button, but the dictionaries have only the "game-of-chance" meaning for the word **gamble**. > Two hours afterward, > Within St. Margaret’s Court I stood alone, > Close-veiled. A sick child, from an ague-fit, > Whose wasted right hand **gambled** ’gainst his left > With an old brass button; in a blot of sun, > Jeered weakly at me as I passed across > The uneven pavement; while a woman, rouged > Upon the angular cheek-bones, kerchief torn, > Thin dangling locks, and flat lascivious mouth, > Cursed at a window, both ways, in and out, > By turns some bed-rid creature and myself,— > ‘Lie still there, mother! liker the dead dog > You’ll be to-morrow. What, we pick our way,

The child is playing a game of chance, with one hand competing against the other, for want of a companion to play against.

Here are a couple of examples from other works, to show how the phrase is used:

> One summer afternoon at Capua I was sitting on a stone bench behind the stables of my villa, thinking out some problem of Etruscan history and idly shooting dice, **left hand against right** , on the rough plank table in front of me.
>
> Robert Graves (1934). _I, Claudius_.

> I sat near her on the floor, playing knucklebones, **right hand against left**.
>
> Mary Stewart (1970). _The Crystal Cave_.

What kind of game of chance might be played with a brass button? Perhaps the button is spun to see how it lands; or perhaps the game is played with some other equipment (for example, knucklebones can be played with small bones or pebbles) and the brass button is the stake or prize.