▪ I. gaming, vbl. n.
(ˈgeɪmɪŋ)
Also 6 gam(e)ning.
[f. game v. + -ing1.]
1. The action or habit of playing at games of chance for stakes; gambling.
| α c 1510 Barclay Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) E iv, An olde man can play, and keepe his grauitie Of death the remembrance his gamning ought to be. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 51 To him that compared gamning with shoting wyll I answere. 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 14 b, To abuse the Sonday, in gamenyng, drinkyng, dauncyng, and worldly businesse. |
| β 1501 Bury Wills (Camden) 90 Suche mony as I haue wanne or loste in gamyng. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xviii. 21 The master of a gaming by whose assurance and leading he is brought foorth to thencounter. a 1602 W. Perkins Cases Consc. (1619) 327 Wee may not liue idlely, and giue our selues to riot and gaming. 1668 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 35, I saw deep and prodigious gaming at the Groom-Porter's. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 113 He loved gaming the most of any man of business I ever knew. a 1797 Burke Fragm. Tract Popery Laws Wks. IX. 364 Such deep gaming for stakes so valuable ought not to be admitted. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocracy Wks. (Bohn) II. 86 Gaming, racing, drinking, and mistresses bring them down. |
† 2. Gr. and
Rom. Antiq. The celebration of games; an athletic or musical contest.
Obs.| 1587 Golding De Mornay i. 10 Greate Personages, whose Images..were turned into Idolles, their woorthie doings into yearely Gamings. 1600 Holland Livy xlv. xxxii. (1609) 1223 At the great and solemne gamings [L. magnis ludis] in Greece. 1606 ― Sueton. 188 Those Cities and states where solemne gamings of musicke are usually held. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
gaming board,
gaming-humour,
gaming-ordinary,
gaming-place;
gaming-proof a., proof against temptations to gaming. Also
gaming-house, -table.
| 1932 Discovery Nov. 341/2 A magnificent *gaming board is unique among Irish examples of Norse culture. 1938 Burlington Mag. July 40/1 Inlaid gaming boards. |
| 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet C iv a, You would make the Church like Primero, four religions in it, and nere one like another. I cannot out of his *gaming humour. ? c 1600 Distracted Emp. i. i. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 166 Thy gameing humor hath been like a fyer. |
| 1712 Swift Let. Eng. Tongue Wks. 1755 II. i. 189 All the odd words they have picked up in a coffee-house, or a *gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style. |
| 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 254 That..a censor be appointed..to go now and then to the billiard-tables, and to the other *gaming-places. |
| 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI 122 Half a dozen officers all *gaming-proof, with empty purses. |
Add:
[1.] b. The playing of war-games or role-playing games.
| 1982 White Dwarf Dec. 27/2 Pirates and Plunder presents a unique fusion of three styles of gaming. 1989 GM Nov. 18/1 CoC is a classic RPG..casting its shadow over the whole gaming industry. |
▪ II. ˈgaming, ppl. a. [f. game v. + -ing2.] That games;
† sportive, jocular.
| 1552 Huloet, Gaminge or full of game, iocosus. 1617 R. Clayton in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1887) II. 112 Gibson the gamming mynistir delivered mee this letter. 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 104 If he had seen any of our Gaming Ladies there. |