Forms: 5–7 boul(e, bowle, (7 bowel), 7– bowl: Sc. and north. dial. boul, bool. [ME. boule, a. F. boule ball:—L. bulla ‘bubble,’ hence, ‘round thing, ball.’]
† 1. A sphere, globe, ball. Obs. in lit. Eng.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. xiv. (1483), 107. God made this grete world … round as a boule.
1449. Excheq. Records, in Risdon, Surv. Devon., Introd. 18. 144 Bouls of Glance Oar.
1549. Compl. Scot., vi. 54. The mune is ane thik masse, round lyik ane boule or bal.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (1852), 25. The wedercoke, crosse, & the bowle of Powlles stepulle.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., III. I. (ed. 7), 273. But if such body bee round as a boule, Spheare or Globe.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XVII. iv. 84. A bowle or globe of brasse [sphæra ahenea].
1623. Lisle, Ælfric on O. & N. T., Ded. xii. No roaring brazen throat Shall belch out iron boules.
1644. Nye, Gunnery (1670), 20. The bowl rowling up and down in the sieve.
1670. Lassels, Voy. Italy, I. (1698), 117. The six Boules of his [the Medici] Arms.
b. Retained dialectally either in the general sense, or in special uses.
1839. Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. xxxii. 440. Small concretionary nodules of impure limestone, here called bowls by the workmen.
Mod. Sc. A butter bool, rock bool, sugar bool. As round as a bool. [In S. Shields, a water-worn or other rounded stone, such as were formerly used for paving the streets, is called a ‘bool.’]
2. spec. A globular or round solid body used to play with: a. esp. in the game of Bowls (see 3) played on a bowling-green: A body of hard wood, originally spherical, but now made slightly oblate on one side and prolate on the other, so as to run with a BIAS (q.v.). Carpet-bowls, used in a drawing-room form of the game, are globular, and of china or earthen-ware. b. Also, those of wood, used in skittles, nine-pins, and the like, which in some parts of the country (e.g., Somersetshire) are spherical, in others much flattened or cheese-shaped. (It is not possible to separate a and b in the quotations.)
c. 1420. Occleve, De Reg. Princ., 24. To … pleye at the balle or boule.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 46. Bowlyn or pley wythe bowlys, bolo.
c. 1475[?]. Sqr. lowe Degre, 804. An hundreth Knightes … Shall play with bowles in alayes colde.
1556. Recorde, Cast. Knowl., 111. A litle altering of the one side, maketh the boul to run biasse waies.
1588. Marprel. Epist. (1843), 54. O well bowlde, when John of London throwes his bowle, he will runne after it, and crie rub, rub, rub.
1611. Markham, Countr. Content., in Strutt, Sports & Past. (1876), 363. Flat bowles being best for allies, your round byazed bowles for open grounds of advantage.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 126. The fortune of the Boul does [depend] upon its delivery out of the Hand.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., ii. 71. A Bowl thrown upon a smooth Bowling-green.
1768. Tucker, Lt. Nat., I. 509. I have a bowl in my hand and want it to touch the jack at the other end of the green.
1836. Hor. Smith, Tin Trump. (1876), 112. It is not every rogue that, like a bowl, can gain his object the better by deviating from the straight line.
1863. Tyneside Songs, 87. War the bool there, Harry Wardle’s myed a throw.
fig. 1618. Mynshul, Ess. Prison (1638), 17. To bee a bowle for every alley, and run into every company, proves thy mind to have no bias.
1625. Bacon, Ess. (Arb.), 185. Which set a Bias vpon the Bowle, of their owne Petty Ends.
† c. A billiard ball. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 200/2. Bowle to playe at the byles, bille.
1695. Alingham, Geom. Epit., 29. Suppose one bowl at the point a … and c d the Billiard Table.
d. Sc. A marble, used by boys in play; or, in some parts, only the larger kind used at ‘bonce.’ (In Sc. bool.)
1826. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 110. Frae the size o’ a peppercorn to that o’ a boy’s bools.
3. pl. A game played with bowls:
a. on a bowling-green, or in a drawing-room (carpet-bowls); b. in a bowling-alley (obs. exc. in dialects where the name ‘bowls’ is still applied to ‘skittles,’ as in Somerset); † c. formerly (apparently) also applied to Billiards (obs.). (It is not easy to identify the sense in individual quotations: the game played in alleys was apparently skittles or something analogous.)
1495. Act 11 Hen. VII., ii. § 5. Noon apprentice … [shall] pley … at the Tenys, Closshe, Dise, Cardes, Bowles nor any other unlawfull game.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, O iij a. To the dyse, to tables, to cardes, or to boules.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., III. 893/2. Tables, dice, cards, and bouls were taken and burnt.
1588. Marprel. Epist. (Arb.), 19. Who goeth to bowles vpon the Sabboth?
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., III. iv. 3. What sport shall we deuise here in this Garden?… Madame, wee’le play at Bowles.
1606. Day, Ile of Guls, III. ii. Clear the green. The Duke is coming to bowls.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus ii. 14. Cards, dice, bowles, bouls, vnprofitable Companie.
1661. Pepys, Diary, 5 June. Sir W. Pen and I went home with Sir R. Slingsby to bowles in his ally.
a. 1687. Petty, Pol. Arith., Pref. To play well at Tennis, Billiards, or Bowels.
1755. Oldys, Life Raleigh, Wks. 1829, I. 104. The captains and commanders were … at bowls upon the Hoe at Plymouth.
1844. Dickens, Lett. (1880), I. 117. I caught him … playing bowls in the garden.
1873. B’ness Bunsen, in Hare, Life, I. ii. 55. The gentlemen played at bowls in the spacious bowling-green.
d. Sc. The game of marbles.
Mod. Co’ way an’ play a game at the bools.
4. The roller or anti-friction wheel in a knitting-machine on which the carriage traverses.
5. Comb., as † bowl-alley, a long narrow space where a game of bowls was played, a skittle-alley; bowl-room (see quot.).
1628. Earle, Microsm., Bowl-Alley, 101. A *Bowl-Alley is the place where there are three things thrown away beside Bowls, to wit, time, money, and curses, and the last ten for one.
1634. Rainbow, Labour (1635), 30. The most goodly … ground in … your Citie, the Bowle-allies and Dice-houses.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Bowling, Bowl-room … is when a bowl has free passage, without striking on any other.
