▪ I. gambling, vbl. n.
(ˈgæmblɪŋ)
[f. gamble v. + -ing1.]
a. The action of the vb. gamble.
| 1784 [see b]. 1792 Looker-on No. 21 ¶6 She had an in-bred abhorrence of gambling. 1812 L. Hunt in Examiner 14 Sept. 578/1 Their gamblings, dissipations. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. viii. (1879) 156 Robberies are a natural consequence of universal gambling. 1897 Westcott Chr. Aspects of Life 231 The State..must deal in some way with gambling. |
b. attrib., as
gambling-booth,
gambling-club,
gambling-debts,
gambling-den,
gambling-game,
gambling-hall,
gambling-hell,
gambling-house,
gambling-instinct,
gambling-joint,
gambling-machine,
gambling-practice,
gambling-school,
gambling-spirit,
gambling-table.
| 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) I. ii. 71 Public and private life had become one great *gambling-booth. |
| 1966 Listener 10 Mar. 361/1 A picture of *gambling clubs in Manchester. |
| 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiv, The wretch offered to buy me..of Henry, to clear off his *gambling debts. |
| 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 168 These *gambling games were kept up throughout the night. |
| 1812 Sir R. Wilson Diary I. 38 After dinner went..to the conversazione, which is a great *gambling hall, or ‘hell’ in classical terms. |
| 1877 Black Green Past. xiii, A convenient little *gambling-hell for those who had grown reckless. |
| 1839 W. Chambers Tour Belgium 71/1 The town authorities relaxed, and the present elegant *gambling-houses have been erected. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times IV. liv. 161 A man who keeps a gambling-house is the proprietor of an unlawful establishment. |
| 1890 Saintsbury in New Rev. Feb. 141 The Republic appeals..to the *gambling instinct in human nature. |
| 1901 S. E. White Westerners xiii. 94 Bunco men can clean him out in a *gambling joint. 1925 B. Travers Mischief v, Who does Captain Dumfoil expect to find running a gambling joint? The Archbishop of Canterbury? |
| 1935 Auden & Isherwood Dog beneath Skin ii. iii. 101 *Gambling-machines and switch⁓backs. |
| 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 246 Some sneaking virtue lurks in him, no doubt, Where neither strumpets' charms, nor drinking-bout, Nor *gambling practices, can find it out. |
| 1935 A. J. Cronin Stars look Down i. ii. 17 Some colliers..that made up the *gambling school in ordinary times—squatted upon their hunkers against the wall. |
| 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ii. 17 There is a *gambling spirit in human nature. |
| 1852 M. Eastman Aunt Phillis's Cabin 210 He fancied he would find happiness..at the *gambling table. 1857 C. Kingsley Two Y. Ago I. i. 26 He's..croupier at a gambling-table. 1891 H. Campbell Darkness & Daylight (1895) xxxiii. 639 Whenever they have money, no matter how obtained, they generally drop the most of it at the gambling-tables. |
▪ II. ˈgambling, ppl. a. [See gamble v.] That gambles or plays for high stakes;
orig. that plays unfairly, that cheats at play.
| 1726 Whole Art & Myst. Mod. Gaming 111 The very Heads of such Families may not improperly be call'd the Game of (what they with a just Derision of their own Vileness term) the Gambling Fraternity. 1775 Ash, Gambling (p.a. from gamble), gaming, cheating by unfair methods of play. |