bowl 1
— bowllike , adj.
/bohl/ , n.
1. a rather deep, round dish or basin, used chiefly for holding liquids, food, etc.
2. the contents of a bowl: a bowl of tomato soup.
3. a rounded, cuplike, hollow part: the bowl of a pipe.
4. a large drinking cup.
5. festive drinking; conviviality.
6. any bowl-shaped depression or formation.
7. an edifice with tiers of seats forming sides like those of a bowl, having the arena at the bottom; stadium.
8. Also called bowl game . a football game played after the regular season by teams selected by the sponsors of the game, usually as representing the best from a region of the country: the Rose Bowl.
9. Typography. a curved or semicircular line of a character, as of a, d, b, etc.
v.t.
10. to give (a floor) a gentle inclination on all sides toward some area, as a stage or platform.
[ bef. 950; ME bolle, OE bolla; c. ON bolli. See BOLL ]
bowl 2
/bohl/ , n.
1. one of the balls, having little or no bias, used in playing ninepins or tenpins.
2. one of the biased or weighted balls used in lawn bowling.
3. bowls , ( used with a sing. v. ) See lawn bowling .
4. a delivery of the ball in bowling or lawn bowling.
5. (formerly) a rotating cylindrical part in a machine, as one to reduce friction.
v.i.
6. to play at bowling or bowls; participate in or have a game or games of bowling.
7. to roll a bowl or ball.
8. to move along smoothly and rapidly.
9. Cricket. to deliver the ball to be played by the batsman.
v.t.
10. to roll or trundle, as a ball or hoop.
11. to attain by bowling: He bowls a good game. She usually bowls a 120 game, but today she bowled 180.
12. to knock or strike, as by the ball in bowling (usually fol. by over or down ).
13. to carry or convey, as in a wheeled vehicle.
14. Cricket. to eliminate (a batsman) by bowling (usually fol. by out ): He was bowled for a duck. He was bowled out for a duck.
15. bowl over , to surprise greatly: We were bowled over by the news.
[ 1375-1425; late ME bowle, var. of boule bulla bubble, knob; cf. BOIL 1 , BOLA ]