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🎳 A ball game 🏏 Throwing in cricket
bowling

bowling

210 1.0
A game in which people roll a ball to knock down pins
  • noun
  • /ˈboʊlɪŋ/
translation icon : bolos
  • On Friday night, we always go bowling at the local alley with friends.
  • bowling ball
  • bowling alley
  • the sport of bowling

Would you say that about bowling if somebody taught you how to bowl?

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Examples

  • We race cars, we go bowling, we go golfing.

  • How's your bowling arm?

    The Rock (1996)

  • We're here to go bowling, which I do love.

  • I took a bowling class in college.

    Good Mythical Morning

  • What does your future hold besides bowling nights and a beer belly?

    Cellular (2004)

  • I won the all-country bowling trophy two years in a row.

    Superman III (1983)

  • The job she'd had at the bowling alley was running the shoe counter.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Bowling night.

    The Incredibles (2004)

  • The results of this research indicate the most popular activities were basketball, football, bowling, softball/baseball, swimming, and volleyball.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Up ahead, a honky tonk bar with a large sign "POOL TABLES, BOWLING & MUSIC" ext.

    Fiction book (1993)

Synonyms

tenpin bowling
vsbowling
2.5

A game where players roll a heavy ball down a lane to knock down ten pins arranged in a triangle

is the general game not limited to ten pins or one arrangement
tenpins
vsbowling
  • US
4.5

A game of bowling played with a large ball to knock down ten pins

is the broader game not tied to one region or style
ninepins
vsbowling
  • UK
7.5

A game where you roll a ball to knock down nine wooden pins

is not limited to nine pins and often uses a heavier ball
candlepin bowling
vsbowling
  • US
6.5

A game like bowling played with thin straight pins and a small ball you hold in your hand

uses a heavy ball rather than a small handheld ball

Idioms

sharp as a bowling ball
  • Offensive
9.3

A person who is not smart and is slow to understand things

Compounds

bowling alley
53 2.7

A building with lanes where people roll heavy balls to knock down pins

bowling ball
22 1.8

A large heavy ball with three finger holes used to knock down pins

bowling league
6 3.1

A group of bowling teams that play each other during a season

bowling shoe
5 2.8

A shoe with a smooth sole worn for bowling to protect the lane and help you slide

bowling pin
3 1.4

A heavy wooden thing shaped like a club that players try to knock down in bowling

lawn bowling
  • UK
1 5.0

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

bowling green
  • UK
1 4.4

A flat area of short grass where people play bowls

bowling score
1 2.3

The total number of points a player or team gets in a game of bowling

bowling equipment
2.1

A set of items used to play bowling, like balls, pins, and shoes

candlepin bowling
  • US
6.5

A game like bowling played with thin straight pins and a small ball you hold in your hand

tenpin bowling
2.5

A game where players roll a heavy ball down a lane to knock down ten pins arranged in a triangle

How Competitive

professional
16 3.5
bowling
210 1.0
bowl
8 2.1

Surface Forms

bowling singular
bowlings plural

Morphology

bowling = bowl (transparent) = bowl + ing

Standard gerund/nominalization from the verb 'bowl' indicating the activity or sport, directly derived from the base verb.

Etymology

Bowling comes from the verb to bowl, which originally meant 'to roll' a round object, like pushing a bowl across the floor. So the game is named for rolling a heavy ball at pins.