skittle alley
- noun
- UK
:
pista de bolos
- Many traditional English inns used to feature a wooden skittle alley as a popular attraction.
Examples
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The children played in the skittle alley all afternoon.
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The old pub still has a skittle alley at the back, where locals play every weekend.
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He set up the pins at the end of the skittle alley before taking his turn.
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Have you ever tried bowling in a skittle alley?
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On weekends, many families enjoy playing skittles down at the local skittle alley.
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The children laughed and cheered as they took turns rolling the ball in the skittle alley.
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We spent a rainy afternoon at the skittle alley, trying to knock down as many pins as possible.
Synonyms
90
3.0
A long narrow lane in a bowling centre where people roll balls toward pins
53
2.7
A building with lanes where people roll heavy balls to knock down pins
How Long
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is fully compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'skittle' (a small wooden target) and 'alley' (a lane) can directly infer that 'skittle alley' is the lane used for rolling skittles. This noun+noun construction follows common English compounding patterns (e.g. 'bowling alley') and is therefore immediately understandable from its parts.
Etymology
The noun skittle alley comes from old pub games where people rolled a ball down a long wooden alley to knock over small wooden skittles. So, skittle alley now means 'a long, narrow lane where players roll a ball at skittles'.