[a. F. tombola (1878 in Dict. Acad.), or It. tombola, f. tombolare to turn a somersault, fall upside down, tumble.] A kind of lottery resembling lotto.
1880. ‘Ouida,’ Moths, xv. You have a tombola for a famine, you have a dramatic performance for a flood, you have a concert for a fire.
1883. Daily News, 19 July, 5/7. There were various other Chinese articles for sale, and a tombola with all prizes and no blanks.
1883. World, No. 471. 13. One of the features of the Savage Club, which is not advertised, on account of the Lottery Act, is a tombola.
1907. Daily Chron., 7 June, 7/3. The law has now stepped in, and forbidden the tombola, on the ground that it would be a contravention of the Gaming Act. The tombola was arranged on the novel principle of no blanks, and a prize for every ticket-holder.
