[f. BOWL sb.2: so med.L. bolāre, f. bolus: cf. mod.F. bouler, f. boule.]
I. Senses derived from the game of bowls.
1. intr. To play at bowls; to trundle or roll a bowl, etc., along the ground.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 46/1. Bowlyn or pley wythe bowlys, bolo.
1570. Levins, Manip., 218. To Boule, mittere globum.
1589. Hay any Work, 33. To bowle but seuen dayes in a weeke, is a very tollerable recreation.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. i. 140. Sir, challenge her to boule [rhymes with foule, oule].
1589. Cooper, Admon., 57. Your iesting at the bishop for bowling vpon the Sabboth.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turkes (1621), 1119. Some they put in the ground up to the chin, and … with yron bullets bowled at their heads.
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., I. (1721), 46. They may well win, that bowl alone.
1863. Tyneside Songs, 87. Ye’ll fynd them boolin’ there.
b. trans. To bowl (one) to death (cf. 1603 in prec.), out of his money, etc.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. iv. 91. I had rather be set quick i’th earth And bowl’d to death with Turnips.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, iii. Bowled you out of it at Marybone.
2. trans. To cause to roll, to send with a rolling or revolving motion (a bowl, a hoop, etc.).
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Iallet, a little boule to cast & boule farre.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 518. Boule the round Naue down the hill of Heauen.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, II. i. 124. We must Fix the Sun, and Bowl the Earth about.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IX. 1277. Who bowl’d them flaming thro’ the dark profound.
1819. Jane Taylor, Philosopher’s Scales, Writ. 1832, III. 120. At last the whole world was bowled in at the grate.
1863. Kingsley, Water Bab. (1878), 4. Bowling stones at the horses’ legs as they trotted by.
Mod. Children bowling their hoops.
b. trans. To carry or convey on wheels, i.e., in a carriage or other vehicle.
1819. Shelley, Peter Bell, II. xiv. The wretched fellow Was bowled to Hell in the Devil’s chaise.
3. intr. To move like a bowl or hoop along the ground, to move by revolution; to move on wheels (esp. to bowl along), said of a carriage, or those who ride in it: also transf. of a ship.
[1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 338. They haue a Dance … if it bee not too rough for some, that know little but bowling.]
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 54, ¶ 4. A fashionable lady … bowling about in her own coach.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 438. The carriage bowls along.
1859. Masson, Brit. Novelists, iii. 186. The moon bowling fearfully through clouds.
1863. Cornh. Mag., Feb. Life Man-of-War, 188. When the good ship is bowling along in the quiet moonlight.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xvi. 221. We bowled through the little village of Overton.
II. Senses connected with cricket.
4. intr. To launch or ‘deliver’ the ball at cricket.
Originally, the ball was actually bowled ‘or trundled’ along the ground: by the successive stages of underhand ‘bowling’ above the ground (used before 1800), round-arm or round-hand (introduced c. 1825, and at first disallowed, as being ‘throwing’), and the more recent over-hand or over-arm, ‘bowling’ has reached a stage, at which its practical difference from ‘throwing’ is a matter on which authorities are at variance.
1755. Game at Cricket, 7 (penes M. C. C.), Laws for the Bowlers, The Bowler … when he has bowl’d one Ball, or more, shall bowl to the Number of Four before he changes Wickets, and he shall change but once in the same Innings.
1770. J. Love, Cricket, 2. Expert to Bowl, to Run, to Stop, to Throw.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, Prol. 81. A herd of boys with clamour bowl’d And stump’d the wicket.
1879. Sat. Rev., 5 July, 21. It is easy work bowling to men who have lost heart.
1880. W. G. Grace, in Boy’s Own Paper, II. 716. A man is now not only allowed to bowl as high as he likes, but a great many of our so-called bowlers deliberately throw.
5. trans. in various constructions. a. To bowl the ball. b. To bowl the bails off, to bowl the wicket (down). c. To bowl a batsman or player (out): to get him ‘out’ by bowling the bails off.
1746. in ‘Bat,’ Cricket Man. (1850), 80. Harris… o. b[owled] by Hadswell.
1755. Game at Cricket, 8. Though the Player be bowl’d out. Ibid., 9. If the wicket is bowl’d down, it’s out.
1774. in Q. Rev., No. 316. 463. It was necessary to ‘bowl the bail off.’
1879. Sat. Rev., 5 July, 21. When he was not bowling wickets, he was … making catches.
1880. W. G. Grace, in Boy’s Own Paper, II. 716. Let him bowl a few balls every day.
1880. Boy’s Own Bk., 105. His object being to bowl down the wicket. Ibid. All the players on one side are bowled, caught, or run out.
1881. Daily News, 9 July, 2. Richards was bowled for a good and useful 23.
1885. Lillywhite’s Cricketer’s Ann., 175. (M.C.C. Laws) The ball must be bowled. If thrown or jerked, the Umpire shall call ‘No Ball.’ (A distinct action of the elbow distinguishes a throw.)
6. Hence fig. (colloq. or slang). To bowl (a person) out, over, down.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. Bowled out, [A thief] when he is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted, is said to be bowled out at last.
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, iii. I hope plenty of the lieutenants are bowled out.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., i. 274. I’ll bowl you down.
1870. Miss Bridgman, R. Lynne, I. ix. 127. He had been bowled over by one of them.
1885. Illustr. Lond. News, 6 June, 572. The horse that is favourite at starting … is more frequently ‘bowled over.’
