bowls

17 7.5

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

noun
/boʊlz/

: juego de bolos sobre césped

There is a much larger lawn for Elizabethan "Bowls," but that is reserved for the faculty.

Examples

He learned the rules of bowls quickly and joined the local club to compete in tournaments.
During the summer, we often play bowls in the park, trying to get our balls closer to the jack.
We create bowls for the Empty Bowls fundraiser to benefit our local food bank.

Blog text (26)
Every Saturday afternoon, they gather at the community center to enjoy a game of bowls.

Synonyms

lawn bowling

vsbowls

1 5.0

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

omits the level lawn and jack color details

boules

vsbowls

7.5

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

uses rolled biased wooden balls aimed at a jack instead of thrown heavy balls

Surface Forms

bowl singular

bowls plural

Morphology

bowls = bowl (semi-transparent) = bowl + s

The plural suffix '-s' is a transparent morphological process, but the specific sense 'the lawn game' is a lexicalized use of 'bowl' that learners who only know 'bowl' as a container may not infer.

Etymology

Bowls comes from the ordinary word bowl, meaning a round dish, because the heavy, round playing balls were called 'bowls' for their shape. So bowls is the sport where players roll those round 'bowls' to try to stop close to a small target ball called a 'jack'.