🎯 A ball game ⚪ Metal balls

boules

7.5

An outdoor game where players throw heavy balls to land near a small target ball

noun
/buːlz/

: petanca

A friendly match of boules is a common sight in many French villages.

Examples

Every Sunday, the locals gather in the park to play boules together.
She learned the rules of boules while visiting southern France last summer.
They played boules in the park yesterday.
Can you teach me how to play boules?
Every Sunday, the locals gather in the park to play boules together.
A friendly match of boules is a common sight in many French villages.
She learned the rules of boules while visiting southern France last summer.

Synonyms

bowls

vsboules

17 7.5

A game on grass where players roll heavy balls to stop near a small ball called the jack

throws heavy balls toward the target instead of rolling them

bocce

vsboules

7 9.1

A ball game from Italy where players roll heavy balls to land near a small target ball

is played by throwing heavy balls outdoors rather than on a court

Surface Forms

boules singular

boules plural

Morphology

boules = boule (semi-transparent) = boule + s

Formally a regular plural of 'boule', but the sense 'the game' is a metonymic extension from the balls, so the specific meaning 'game' is not a straightforward derivation for learners.

Etymology

Boules comes from the French word boule meaning 'ball' and an older word that meant 'bubble' or 'round', so it is like the English words 'ball' and 'bubble'. The game is named after the balls players throw, which is why boules refers to that outdoor throwing game.