Forms: 8–9 pharaoh, erron. pharoah, pharo, (8 pharaon, farro), 8– faro. [f. PHARAOH, after F. pharaon, It. faraone.
Why the name was given is not clear; some mod. Dicts. assert that one of the cards used in the game formerly bore the picture of Pharaoh.]
1. A gambling game at cards, in which the players bet on the order in which certain cards will appear when taken singly from the top of the pack.
1739. Act 12 Geo. II., c. 28 § 1. Games of the Ace of Hearts, Pharaoh, Basset and Hazard.
1748. H. Walpole, Corr. (ed. 3), II. cxc. 233. Silver-pharaoh and whist for the ladies that did not dance.
1797. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 14/2. Convicted in the penalty of £50 each for playing at the game of Faro.
1842. Barham, Ingol. Leg., The Black Mosquetaire.
| So that, being much more of pigeon than rook, he | |
| Lost large sums at faro (a game like ‘Blind Hookey’). |
1859. Thackeray, Virgin., xxvii. Preferring smoke and faro to fresh air.
2. attrib. and Comb., as faro-player, -table, -winnings; faro bank, (a) a gaming-house where faro is played; (b) the banker’s deposit of money against which the other players put their stakes; faro banker, the proprietor of a faro bank.
a. 1735. Arbuthnot, Harmony in Uproar, Misc. Wks. 1751, II. 34. You know no more of Harmony, than he of the Tricks of a Faro-Table, or a Bowling-Green.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, Jrnl. (1884), 187. Mr. Hay’s profit is from the the cards and farro bank, which is held every night.
1795. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Hair Powder, 236. Let … stately Cumberland [pinch] her faro winnings.
1796. Hull Advertiser, 21 May, 2/4. The threatening notice taken by the Lord Chief Justice of the Ladies’ Faro Tables.
1797. Sporting Mag., XI. Oct., 7/2. In pursuing his economical system, Spunge exposes the villainy of a female Faro Banker and her husband.
1801. Mar. Edgeworth, Belinda, iv. Mrs. Luttridge … being a great faro-player.
1877. Morley, Crit. Misc., Ser. II. 52. That the queen might … kill time at a cost of five hundred louis a night at lansquenet and the faro bank.
