Definition of "billiards" []

• A game played on a rectangular cloth-covered table with raised cushioned edges, in which a cue is used to hit three small, hard balls against one another or the side cushions of the table. (noun-plural)
• One of several similar games, sometimes using a table with pockets, as in pool. (noun-plural)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""What do you say to going down to the hotel and having a game of _bazzica_, as they call billiards here?""
• "While shifting to billiards is too provocative for Washington, if trends continue, it may soon find itself behind the eight ball with few options for maintaining its stabilizing role in the region."
• ""But I don't gamble by means of dice," interrupted Lewis, "I play, and bet, on billiards, which is a game of skill, requiring much practice, judgment, and thought.""