▪ I. bowl, n.1
(bəʊl)
Forms: 1 bolla, 2–7 bolle, (5 boole), 6–7 boll, 6 boule, 7 boul, bowle, boal, 7–9 bole, 7– bowl. pl. bowls, (in 1 bollan, 2–3 -en).
[Com. Teut.: OE. bolla = MDu. bolle, Du. bol, ON. bolli wk. masc.; cogn. with OHG. bolla (MHG. bolle), wk. fem., ‘bud, round pod, globular vessel’; hence OE. heafodbolla ‘brainpan, skull’; f. root *bū̆l- ‘to swell, be swollen’; cf. also OHG. bolôn, MHG. boln to roll. The normal modern spelling would be boll which came down to 17th c. in sense of ‘round vessel’, and is still used in sense of ‘round seed-vessel’; but the early ME. pronunciation of -ōll as -ōwl (cf. roll, poll, toll, etc.), has left its effects in the modern spelling bowl in the sense of ‘vessel’, which is thus at once separated in form from other senses of its own (see boll n.1), and confounded with bowl n.2 a ball, from Fr. boule.]
1. a. ‘A [round] vessel to hold liquids, rather wide than deep; distinguished from a cup, which is rather deep than wide.’ J. Usually hemispherical or nearly so.
Historically, a bowl is distinguished from a basin by its more hemispherical shape; a ‘basin’ being proportionally shallower and wider, or with the margin curved outward, as in the ordinary wash-hand basin; but the actual use of the words is capricious, and varies from place to place; in particular, the ordinary small earthenware vessels, used for porridge, soup, milk, sugar, etc., which are historically bowls, and are so called in Scotland and in U.S., are always called in the south-east of England, and hence, usually in literary English, basins. The earlier usage remains in salad-bowl, finger-bowl (now also basin), punch-bowl, and the convivial or social bowl (see b).
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 300 Genim..tweᵹen bollan fulle wæteres. c 1205 Lay. 19783 Heo comen to þare welle and heore bollen feolde. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 657 Bryngeth eek with yow a bolle or a panne fful of water. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 43 Bolle, dysche, cantare. Bolle, vesselle, concha, luter. 1474 Caxton Chesse 12 A boole of coppre. 1481 ― Reynard (Arb.) 113 A grete bolle full of scaldyng water. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 150 Set either a boule or pan of water. 1625 Purchas Pilgrimes ii. 1735 They dig deepe pits in the earth, and wash the earth in great bolls, and therein they find the gold. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. xiii. (1686) 300 Water in a boal. 1833 H. Martineau, Briery Crk. iii. 49 Cups and basins which the younger girl had washed in the wooden bowl. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xvii. 163 John will..give the baby all the sugar in the bowl. |
b. esp. as a drinking vessel; whence the bowl, drinking, conviviality.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xix. 29 Bolla vel copp full of æcced. c 1205 Lay. 14994 Þene bolle heo sette to hire chin. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1511 In bryȝt bollez, ful bayn birlen þise oþer. 1414 Test. Ebor. (1836) I. 362 Lego..unum ciphum de argento, qui vocatur le Bolle. 1548 Latimer Ploughers (1868) 35 As manie as drancke of the pardon boll should haue pardon. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 319 One onely wassailing cup or Bolle walked round about the boorde. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii, 72 Giue me a Bowle of Wine. 1651 Miller of Mansfield 9 Nappie Ale..in a browne Bole. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 107 The Beechen Bowl fomes with a floud of Wine. 1706 Addison Rosamond ii. vi, Quickly drain the fatal Bowl. 1805 Southey Madoc in W. xv, O'er the bowl they commun'd. 1811 Let. fr. Son to Mother 11, I fly to the bowl; thence quaff short oblivion. |
fig. and transf.
| c 1025 ælfric Saints' Lives St. George I. 312 ænne mycelne bollan mid bealuwe afylled. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 410 Þi drynke worth deþ and deop helle þy bolle. c 1575 Gascoigne Fruites Warre (1831) 212 Hope brings the boll whereon they all must quaffe. 1649 Jer. Taylor Great Exemp. ii. Add. x. 9 The World presents us with faire language..these are the outsides of the bole. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 15 The tiny bowl of a man's happiness was spilt upon the ground. |
c. With prefixed substantive, as ale-, sugar-, etc.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 153 Drownd theyr soules in ale boules. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 39 Accustomed..of their sculs to make drinking-bolles. 1709 Tatler No. 42 ¶13 A Mustard-Bowl to make Thunder with. |
† d. A tub or round vessel for other purposes.
| a 1000 Cursor M. 5524 (Gött.) Apon þair neckes sal þai bere Bollis [Cott. hott = hod] wid stan and wid mortere. |
2. transf. The contents of a bowl, a bowlful.
| 1530 Palsgr. 459 This felowe blussheth lyke a butchers bolle. 1605 Camden Rem. 130 New named with a bole of wine powred vpon their heads. 1617 Janua Ling. 814 The butler hath drunke up a whole bolle. a 1764 Lloyd Satyr & Pedlar Poet. Wks. 1774 I. 59 A bowl prepar'd of sav'ry broth. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 214 Nor robb'd the farmer of his bowl of cream. |
3. a. The more or less bowl-shaped part of any vessel or utensil; e.g. of a cup or flagon, tobacco-pipe, spoon, candlestick; the scale-pan of a balance.
| 1386 Rymer Fœdera XVIII. 143 One cupp, the boll thereof agett ovall fashion called the Constables Cupp, with an aggett in the foote. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxxi. (1495) 940 The weyght is rightfull whan both the bolles hangyth euen. 1611 Bible Zech. iv. 2 A candle⁓sticke all of gold, with a bowle vpon the top of it. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 197 Which so well resembled..[a tobacco pipe] both in the boll and heel. 1692 in Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. xxxi. 144 The Bole or Bore of the Morter, next to the Wad. 1814 Scott Wav. I. ix. 123 The grotesque face on the bole of a German tobacco-pipe. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast. xix. 55 They smoke a great deal..using pipes with large bowls. 1885 Mag. of Art Sept. 458/2 The bowl of the spoon. |
b. The basin of a fountain, etc.
| 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 52 A fayr formed boll, of a three foot ouer: from wheans sundrye fine pipez did distill continuall streamz intoo the receyt of the Foountayn. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 90 The bowl [of the font] is dated 1664. |
c. A bowl-shaped natural basin.
| 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §23. 165 The rim of a flattened bowl quite clasped by the mountains. |
d. A football stadium (no longer necessarily bowl-shaped). Freq. in the names of particular stadia. Cf. rose bowl 2, Super-Bowl s.v. super- 6 c. U.S.
| 1913 Yale Alumni Weekly 4 July 1073/1 I voice the thanks of all Yale graduates for the ‘Bowl’... I am glad that Yale..prefers the good old word ‘bowl’ with its savor of manly English sport, to the ‘coliseum’ of the Romans or the ‘stadium’ of the Greeks. 1923 Pasadena (Calif.) Star-News 1 Jan. 1 Cheered to the echo,..a crowd of about 50,000 people in the great Rose Bowl, Pasadena's new Stadium in the Arroyo Seco. 1931 E. Linklater Juan in Amer. ii. xii. 135 To see a good game people would drive for many miles and the bowl was generally well filled. 1975 New Yorker 8 Dec. 35/3 It was pleasant indeed to be sitting in the Yale Bowl among sixty-six thousand people, all of them intelligent-looking. 1987 Washington Post 23 Mar. a 7/2, Three banks backed Robbie's plan to build a stadium..30 miles north of Miami's downtown crumbling Orange Bowl. |
† 4. Naut. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 20 The Top, Cap, or Bowle, which is a round thing at the head of either Mast for men to stand in. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. xi. §iv. 281 Parts of Vessels..fixed and upright; or the upper parts of these, round and prominent: Mast-Top, Boul. 1721–1800 Bailey, Bowl [in a ship], a round space at the Head of the Mast for the Men to stand in. |
5. The blade of an oar. (Cf. bowl of spoon in 3.)
| 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. xxv. Wks. V. 367 Oars From whose broad bowls the waters fall and flash. |
6. (See quot.)
| 1884 British Almanack & Comp. 32 The nets..are further buoyed up by small kegs, called ‘bowls’. |
7. Comb., as bowl-basin, bowl-cup, bowl-shaped adj.: also bowl-barrow, a prehistoric mound of the shape of an inverted bowl; bowl-fellow, a drinking companion; bowlful, the content of a bowl; † bowl-piece, a piece (of plate) of the form of a bowl; bowl-weft (see quot.)
| 1812 Sir R. C. Hoare Anc. Hist. S. Wilts. 21 *Bowl Barrow. This is, I think, the most ordinary shaped barrow, and more frequently met with than any of the others. |
| 1846 Knight Old England 7 On every side of Stonehenge we are surrounded with barrows. Some are of the shape of bowls, and some of bells..Long-barrow, bowl-barrow, bell-barrow. |
| 1607 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons Introd. 6 *Boll basons (whereof one hath brinkes) iiij. |
| 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 45–6 A *bolle cuppe i-keueryd of syluer. Also a bolle pece. |
| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 16 She and her *boul felowes sitting by the fire. |
| 1611 Bible Judg. vi. 38 A *bowle full of water. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Juice, A Bowlful of the Juice. |
| 1459 Test. Ebor. (1855) II. 235, Duas pecias argenti et coopertas vocatas *boll-peces. 1479 Inv. Plate in Paston Lett. III. 273, J grete boll pees, with a cover. |
| 1864 N. & Q. Ser. iii. VI. 459/1 *Bowl-weft..applied to materials abstracted by weavers in Lanarkshire..to exchange it with travelling hawkers for bowls and other earthenware dishes. |
¶ See also boll, boule.
Add: [3.] e. A sporting occasion, held in such a stadium, at which a football game is the main (orig. the only) event; later extended to include similar events held elsewhere. Also spec. = bowl game, sense *7 below. U.S.
| 1935 Birmingham (Alabama) News 31 Dec. 9/6 So that makes the Orange Bowl not so much of a test of the Warner vs Rockne systems. 1949 Collier's 31 Dec. 13/2 Only five bowls were played on college—or even on junior college athletic fields. Ibid., The East-West game has been cited as a model for operations of its kind, but it is not a bowl in the accepted sense. 1969 Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard 3 Dec. 1d/1 (heading) Bowls at a glance. 1988 First Down 19 Nov. 20/3 Our first consideration is a bowl that would give us the best chance at winning the national championship. |
[7.] bowl game Amer. Football, an established post-season game, spec. one played at any of a number of named stadiums.
| 1935 N.Y. Times 29 Dec. v. 9/2 Dorais suggested that a committee be formed to investigate the *bowl games to determine whether they are ‘healthy appendages or cancerous growths’. 1940 Sun (Baltimore) 3 Dec. 15/5 There also will be a bowl game New Year's Day on the Pacific Coast. 1982 S. B. Flexner Listening to Amer. 249 This 1917 game [in the Pasadena Rose Bowl] popularized the terms Rose Bowl, bowl game, and postseason game. 1991 Rutgers Mag. Fall 40/3 When was the last time Rutgers went to a bowl game? (The answer is 1978, when the Knights played in the late, unlamented Garden State Bowl.) |
▪ II. bowl, n.2
(bəʊl, baʊl)
Forms: 5–7 boul(e, bowle, (7 bowel), 7– bowl; Sc. and north. dial. boul, bool.
[ME. boule, a. F. boule ball:—L. bulla ‘bubble’, hence, ‘round thing, ball’. The French pronunciation (bul), is retained in Sc. and parts of Northumbria, now often written bool; the normal English would be (baʊl) as in foul, fowl, which still prevails in nearly all the dialects from Yorkshire to Devon, and thence to Kent; the pronunciation (bəʊl), a corruption due to graphic confusion with bowl n.1, appears to have originated in London and its neighbourhood, but has extended elsewhere with the use of the vb. in cricket.]
† 1. a. A sphere, globe, ball. Obs. in lit. Eng.
| 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle v. xiv. (1483) 107 God made this grete world..round as a boule. 1449 Excheq. Records in Risdon Surv. Devon. Introd. 18, 144 Bouls of Glance Oar. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 54 The mune is ane thik masse, round lyik ane boule or bal. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 25 The wedercoke, crosse, & the bowle of Powlles stepulle. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. (ed. 7) 273 But if such body bee round as a boule, Spheare or Globe. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xvii. iv. 84 A bowle or globe of brasse [sphæra ahenea]. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N.T. Ded. xii, No roaring brazen throat Shall belch out iron boules. 1644 Nye Gunnery (1670) 20 The bowl rowling up and down in the sieve. 1670 Lassels Voy. Italy i. (1698) 117 The six Boules of his [the Medici] Arms. |
b. Retained dialectally either in the general sense, or in special uses.
In S. Shields, a water-worn or other rounded stone, such as were formerly used for paving the streets, is called a ‘bool’.
| 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxxii. 440 Small concretionary nodules of impure limestone, here called bowls by the workmen. Mod. Sc. A butter bool, rock bool, sugar bool. As round as a bool. |
2. spec. A globular or round solid body used to play with: a. esp. in the game of Bowls (see 3) played on a bowling-green: A body of hard wood, originally spherical, but now made slightly oblate on one side and prolate on the other, so as to run with a bias (q.v.). carpet-bowls, used in a drawing-room form of the game, are globular, and of china or earthen-ware. b. Also, those of wood, used in skittles, nine-pins, and the like, which in some parts of the country (e.g. Somersetshire) are spherical, in others much flattened or cheese-shaped. (It is not possible to separate a and b in the quotations.)
| c 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 24 To..pleye at the balle or boule. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46 Bowlyn or pley wythe bowlys, bolo. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 804 An hundreth Knightes..Shall play with bowles in alayes colde. 1556 Recorde Cast. Knowl. 111 A litle altering of the one side, maketh the boul to run biasse waies. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (1843) 54 O well bowlde, when John of London throwes his bowle, he will runne after it, and crie rub, rub, rub. 1611 Markham Countr. Content. in Strutt Sports & Past. (1876) 363 Flat bowles being best for allies, your round byazed bowles for open grounds of advantage. 1691 Norris Pract. Disc. 126 The fortune of the Boul does [depend] upon its delivery out of the Hand. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. ii. 71 A Bowl thrown upon a smooth Bowling-green. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 509, I have a bowl in my hand and want it to touch the jack at the other end of the green. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 112 It is not every rogue that, like a bowl, can gain his object the better by deviating from the straight line. 1863 Tyneside Songs 87 War the bool there, Harry Wardle's myed a throw. |
| fig. 1618 G. Mynshul Ess. Prison (1638) 17 To bee a bowle for every alley, and run into every company, proves thy mind to have no bias. 1625 Bacon Ess. (Arb.) 185 Which set a Bias vpon the Bowle, of their owne Petty Ends. |
† c. A billiard ball. Obs.
| 1530 Palsgr. 200/2 Bowle to playe at the byles, bille. 1695 W. Alingham Geom. Epit. 29 Suppose one bowl at the point a..and c d the Billiard Table. |
d. Sc. A marble, used by boys in play; or, in some parts, only the larger kind used at ‘bonce’. (In Sc. bool.)
| 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 110 Frae the size o' a peppercorn to that o' a boy's bools. |
e. A delivery of the ball in cricket: now usually ball.
| 1862 Chambers's Encycl. III. 320/1 At the end of every four bowls, the bowler, wicket-keeper, long-stop, and fielders, change places. |
f. A turn in the game of bowls; also, the delivery of the ball.
| 1889 in Cent. Dict. 1894 E. T. Ayers Bowls (ed. 2) 80 ‘Driver’ on such occasions often comes in for reproach after an unsuccessful bowl. |
3. pl. A game played with bowls: a. on a bowling-green, or in a drawing-room (carpet-bowls); b. in a bowling-alley (obs. exc. in dialects where the name ‘bowls’ is still applied to ‘skittles’, as in Somerset); † c. formerly (apparently) also applied to Billiards (obs.). (It is not easy to identify the sense in individual quotations: the game played in alleys was apparently skittles or something analogous.)
| 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, ii. §5 Noon apprentice..[shall] pley..at the Tenys, Closshe, Dise, Cardes, Bowles nor any other unlawfull game. 1549 Chaloner Erasm. on Folly O iij a, To the dyse, to tables, to cardes, or to boules. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 893/2 Tables, dice, cards, and bouls were taken and burnt. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 19 Who goeth to bowles vpon the Sabboth? 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iv. 3 What sport shall we deuise here in this Garden?..Madame, wee'le play at Bowles. 1606 Day Ile of Guls iii. ii. Clear the green. The Duke is coming to bowls. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 14 Cards, dice, bowles, bouls, vnprofitable Companie. 1661 Pepys Diary 5 June, Sir W. Pen and I went home with Sir R. Slingsby to bowles in his ally. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. Pref., To play well at Tennis, Billiards, or Bowels. 1755 Oldys Life Raleigh Wks. 1829 I. 104 The captains and commanders were..at bowls upon the Hoe at Plymouth. 1844 Dickens Lett. (1880) I. 117, I caught him..playing bowls in the garden. 1873 Baroness Bunsen in Hare Life I. ii. 55 The gentlemen played at bowls in the spacious bowling-green. |
d. Sc. The game of marbles.
| Mod. Co' way an' play a game at the bools. |
4. The roller or anti-friction wheel in a knitting-machine on which the carriage traverses.
5. Comb., as † bowl-alley, a long narrow space where a game of bowls was played, a skittle-alley: bowl-room (see quot.).
| 1628 Earle Microsm., Bowl-Alley 101 A *Bowl-Alley is the place where there are three things thrown away beside Bowls, to wit, time, money, and curses, and the last ten for one. 1634 Rainbow Labour (1635) 30 The most goodly..ground in..your Citie, the Bowle-allies and Dice-houses. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Bowling, Bowl-room..is when a bowl has free passage, without striking on any other. |
▪ III. bowl, v.1
(bəʊl)
[f. bowl n.2: so med.L. bolāre, f. bolus: cf. mod.F. bouler, f. boule.]
I. Senses derived from the game of bowls.
1. a. intr. To play at bowls; to trundle or roll a bowl, etc. along the ground.
| 1440 Promp. Parv, 46/1 Bowlyn or pley wythe bowlys, bolo. 1570 Levins Manip. 218 To Boule, mittere globum. 1589 Hay any Work 33 To bowle but seuen dayes in a weeke, is a very tollerable recreation. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 140 Sir, challenge her to boule [rimes with foule, oule]. 1589 Cooper Admon. 57 Your iesting at the bishop for bowling vpon the Sabboth. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 1119 Some they put in the ground up to the chin, and..with yron bullets bowled at their heads. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. i. (1721) 46 They may well win, that bowl alone. 1863 Tyneside Songs 87 Ye'll fynd them boolin' there. |
b. trans. to bowl (one) to death (cf. 1603 in prec.), out of his money, etc.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. iv. 91, I had rather be set quick i'th earth And bowl'd to death with Turnips. 1818 Scott Rob Roy iii, Bowled you out of it at Marybone. |
2. a. trans. To cause to roll, to send with a rolling or revolving motion (a bowl, a hoop, etc.).
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Iallet, a little boule to cast & boule farre. 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 518 Boule the round Naue down the hill of Heauen. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. i. 124 We must Fix the Sun, and Bowl the Earth about. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ix. 1277 Who bowl'd them flaming thro' the dark profound. 1819 Jane Taylor Philosopher's Scales, Last of all the whole world was bowled in at the grate. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. (1878) 4 Bowling stones at the horses' legs as they trotted by. Mod. Children bowling their hoops. |
b. trans. To carry or convey on wheels, i.e. in a carriage or other vehicle.
| 1819 Shelley Peter Bell ii. xiv, The wretched fellow Was bowled to Hell in the Devil's chaise. |
3. intr. To move like a bowl or hoop along the ground, to move by revolution; to move on wheels (esp. to bowl along), said of a carriage, or those who ride in it: also transf. of a ship.
| [1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 338 They haue a Dance..if it bee not too rough for some, that know little but bowling.] 1759 Johnson Idler No. 54 ¶4 A fashionable lady..bowling about in her own coach. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 438 The carriage bowls along. 1859 Masson Brit. Novelists iii. 186 The moon bowling fearfully through clouds. 1863 Cornh. Mag. Feb., When the good ship is bowling along in the quiet moonlight. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xvi. 221 We bowled through the little village of Overton. |
II. Senses connected with cricket.
4. a. intr. To launch or ‘deliver’ the ball at cricket.
Originally, the ball was actually bowled ‘or trundled’ along the ground: by the successive stages of underhand ‘bowling’ above the ground (used before 1800), round-arm or round-hand (introduced c 1825, and at first disallowed, as being ‘throwing’), and the more recent over-hand or over-arm, ‘bowling’ has reached a stage, at which its practical difference from ‘throwing’ is a matter on which authorities are at variance.
| 1755 Game at Cricket 7 (penes M.C.C.), Laws for the Bowlers, The Bowler..when he has bowl'd one Ball, or more, shall bowl to the Number of Four before he changes Wickets, and he shall change but once in the same Innings. 1770 J. Love Cricket 2 Expert to Bowl, to Run, to Stop, to Throw. 1847 Tennyson Princess Prol. 81 A herd of boys with clamour bowl'd And stump'd the wicket. 1879 Sat. Rev. 5 July 21 It is easy work bowling to men who have lost heart. 1880 W. G. Grace in Boy's Own Paper II. 716 A man is now not only allowed to bowl as high as he likes, but a great many of our so-called bowlers deliberately throw. |
b. to bowl with one's head: to bowl intelligently; to bowl short: to pitch the ball short of a good length; to bowl over the wicket: to bowl with the bowling-arm nearest to the bowler's wicket; opp. to bowl round (or formerly outside) the wicket: to bowl with the bowling-arm away from the bowler's wicket.
| 1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field ii. 20 How is it that Clarke's slow bowling is so successful?.. ‘You see, sir, they bowl with their heads.’ Ibid. viii. 161 Playing him back all day if he bowls short, and hitting him hard along the ground whenever he overpitches. 1854 Ibid. (ed. 2) xi. 265 Any round-armed bowler (who does not bowl ‘over the wicket’). 1887 F. Gale Game Cricket 154 Learning to play a round-arm bowler, bowling round the wicket. 1893 R. Daft Kings of Cricket xiii. 230 Harrison..seems to me to bowl better ‘with his head’ than he used to formerly. 1955 Times 9 May 15/1 On Saturday he bowled over the wicket. |
5. trans. in various constructions. a. To bowl the ball. Also, b. To bowl the bails off, to bowl the wicket (down). c. To bowl a batsman or player (out): to get him ‘out’ by bowling the bails off. d. To bowl an over. e. To put on (a player) to bowl in a cricket match.
| 1719 in H. T. Waghorn Dawn of Cricket (1906) 5 The Kentish men were bowled out. 1736 in ― Cricket Scores (1899) 14 When there were but two, and one wicket to bowl down. 1744 Laws of Cricket in Dict. Arts & Sci. (1755) IV. 3459/1 The bowler..when he has bowled one ball, or more, shall bowl to the number four before he changes wickets. Ibid., If..the player is bowled out. Ibid., If the wicket is bowled down, it is out. 1746 in ‘Bat’ Cricket Man. (1850) 80 Harris{ddd}o. b[owled] by Hadswell. 1755 Game at Cricket 8 Though..the Player be bowl'd out. Ibid. 9 If the wicket is bowl'd down, it's out. 1774 in Q. Rev. No. 316. 463 It was necessary to ‘bowl the bail off’. 1833 New Sporting Mag. Sept. 325 Floyer bowls the over. 1862 F. Lillywhite's Cricket Scores i. 415 His underhand bowling..was so fast that it was not always safe to bowl him. 1879 Sat. Rev. 5 July 21 When he was not bowling wickets, he was..making catches. 1880 W. G. Grace in Boy's Own Paper II. 716 Let him bowl a few balls every day. 1880 Boy's Own Bk. 105 His object being to bowl down the wicket. Ibid. All the players on one side are bowled, caught, or run out. 1881 Daily News 9 July 2 Richards was bowled for a good and useful 23. 1882 Pardon Austral. in Eng. 111, I think he might have bowled Boyle more. 1885 Lillywhite's Cricketer's Ann. 175 (M.C.C. Laws) The ball must be bowled. If thrown or jerked, the Umpire shall call ‘No Ball’. (A distinct action of the elbow distinguishes a throw.) 1888 R. H. Lyttelton Cricket xi. 343 Mr. Ward bowled thirty-two overs for 29 runs. 1955 A. Ross Australia 55 96 Hutton bowled Tyson and Statham for an hour. |
6. Hence fig. (colloq. or slang). To bowl (a person) out, over, down.
| 1793 Sporting Mag. 29 Sept. 371 Field-tennis threatens ere long to bowl out cricket. 1805 Capt. Crumby Let. in 19th Cent. No. 273. 721 He wished me to be made acquainted with it [sc. Ld. Nelson's memorandum], that in the event of his being ‘bowl'd out’ I might know how to conduct the ship. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v. Bowled out, [A thief] when he is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted, is said to be bowled out at last. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay iii, I hope plenty of the lieutenants are bowled out. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. 274 I'll bowl you down. 1867 Trollope Claverings II. xii. 147 You certainly did bowl her over uncommon well. 1870 M. Bridgman R. Lynne I. ix. 127 He had been bowled over by one of them. 1885 Illustr. Lond. News 6 June 572 The horse that is favourite at starting..is more frequently ‘bowled over’. |
▪ IV. † bowl, v.2 Obs.
To pass the convivial bowl, to booze. See boll v.2, bolling, boller.
▪ V. bowl, bowle, v.3 north. dial.
(bɔʊl)
[perh. identical with MDu. bōghelen to curve, crook, f. bōghel, now beugel, a bow, hoop, ring: cf. boul n.]
To curve, to crook (Jamieson).
| 1513 [see bowland]. |
Hence bowld, bowled ppl. a.
| 1818 Hogg Brownie II. 226 (Jam.) Get away wi' ye! ye bowled-like shurf. 1863 Tyneside Songs 6 Bowld Sandy Bowes—young Cuckoo Jack. |