hearts

2 4.9

A card game for four players where you try to avoid taking tricks containing hearts or the queen of spades

noun
/hɑrts/

: corazones

In the card game hearts, collecting too many hearts can lead to a lower score.

Examples

HE CAN MAKE THE ACE OF SPADES TURN INTO THE QUEEN OF HEARTS.

Bogus (1996)
"YOU CAN'T THROW THE SEVEN OF HEARTS, BRIAN."

Fiction book (1999)
Woman: MR. MOTTI, ONCE AGAIN YOU HAVE MANAGED TO WIN THE HEARTS OF THE JURY WITH A "NOT GUILTY" VERDICT.

Car 54, Where Are You? (1994)
GRANDPA SETH HAS REMAINED IN ALL OUR HEARTS, BUT YOU MUST BANISH HIM FROM YOUR MIND.

Troll (1986)
The players were excited to reveal their cards, hoping to avoid the hearts in this round of hearts.
During game night, we always play hearts as it's fun to strategize and watch who avoids the most tricks.

Synonyms

card game

vshearts

43 1.1

A game played with playing cards, for example poker, that often needs skill or luck

is a specific four-player trick avoidance variant rather than a general deck pastime

Black Maria

vshearts

9.9

A card game like Hearts where players avoid winning tricks with hearts or the queen of spades

is the common four-player version focused on avoiding those same tricks

Idioms

heart of hearts

Literature

19 6.1

The deepest feeling a person has inside that they do not show

in heart of hearts

Informal

7.5

To feel something deep inside but not say it

Compounds

ace of hearts

1 3.3

A playing card with one heart that is the highest card in hearts

Surface Forms

hearts singular

hearts plural

Morphology

hearts = heart (semi-transparent) = heart + s

Derived from the suit name 'heart' + plural '-s'; the relation to the suit is clear but the game name is a conventionalized usage not fully predictable from the base word.

Etymology

Hearts for the card game gets its name from the red heart cards that give points in the game. Players try to avoid taking those 'hearts' and the queen of spades, so the name tells you what the game is about.