yarborough

9.9

A hand in card games like bridge with no card higher than nine

noun

Jargon

: yarborough

Getting a yarborough makes it almost impossible to win the game.

Examples

She was disappointed to be dealt a yarborough in the first round.
He laughed when he realized his entire hand was a yarborough.
He was dealt a yarborough in the last round.
A yarborough can be very frustrating to play.
She was disappointed to be dealt a yarborough in the first round.
Getting a yarborough makes it almost impossible to win the game.
He laughed when he realized his entire hand was a yarborough.

Surface Forms

yarborough singular

yarboroughs plural

Etymology

Yarborough comes from the 19th-century Earl of Yarborough, who famously offered a big bet that a player would be dealt a hand 'with no card higher than nine'. So a yarborough now means a very bad hand in games like bridge or whist, one with no card above nine, which makes it hard to win.