domino

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small rectangular game tile divided into two squares marked with dots

   She placed the final domino beside a tile with matching dots.

2. 2
   noun

   a loose hooded cloak worn with a mask as a masquerade costume

   The costumier displayed silk dominoes beside the theatrical masks.

3. 3
   noun

   a small mask covering the area around the eyes

   A black domino concealed the upper half of his face at the ball.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Domino comes from a 16th-century French word for a winter cloak worn by priests. The name was later applied in Spain and Venice to a cloak and mask worn at masquerades, which was its first English sense in the late 17th century; its transfer to the game of dominoes around the beginning of the 19th century remains unexplained.

Borrowed from French domino, first denoting a hooded masquerade cloak and earlier a priest's winter hood, probably from Latin dominus ("lord, master"). The name later passed to the black-and-white game tile, perhaps through a resemblance to the costume.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary