bowl

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A hemispherical vessel, wider than it is deep, used for holding food or fluids.
2. n. The contents of such a vessel.
3. n. A drinking goblet.
4. n. A bowl-shaped part, as of a spoon or pipe.
5. n. A bowl-shaped topographic depression.
6. n. A bowl-shaped stadium or outdoor theater.
7. n. Football Any of various postseason games played between specially selected teams, especially at the college level.
8. n. A large wooden ball weighted or slightly flattened so as to roll with a bias.
9. n. A roll or throw of this ball, as in bowling.
10. n. See lawn bowling.
11. n. A revolving cylinder or drum in a machine.
12. v. To participate in a game of bowling.
13. v. To throw or roll a ball in bowling.
14. v. To hurl a cricket ball from one end of the pitch toward the batsman at the other, keeping the arm straight throughout the delivery.
15. v. To move quickly and smoothly, especially by rolling: The children bowled along on their bicycles.
16. v. To throw or roll (a ball).
17. v. To achieve (a specified score) by bowling.
18. v. To perform (a specified amount, as a string or game) in bowling.
19. v. To move quickly and smoothly by or as if by rolling: bowled a tire from the garage.
20. v. To meet or strike with or as if with the force of a rapidly rolling object.
21. bowl out To retire (a batsman in cricket) with a bowled ball that knocks the bails off the wicket.
22. bowl over To take by surprise.
23. bowl over To make a powerful impression on; overwhelm.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A low-standing concave vessel used for various domestic and other purposes, chiefly for holding liquids or liquid food. A bowl is properly somewhat hemispherical, larger than a cup and deeper and less flaring than a basin (although in Great Britain bowls for table use are commonly called basins), and without a cover; but bowls for some specific uses, as sugar-bowls, are widely varied in shape and provided with covers.
2. n. More specifically
3. n. A large drinking-cup; a goblet: in this sense now chiefly figurative, as an emblem of festivity or dissipation.
4. n. Anything having the general shape or use of a bowl, as a natural depression in the ground, the pound or central portion of a fishing-weir, the hollow or containing part of a vessel or utensil having a stem or a handle, etc.: as, the bowl of a chalice, a spoon, or a tobacco-pipe.
5. n. A ball; any sphere or globe.
6. n. A large solid ball of hard wood used in playing the game of bowls on a level plat of greensward called a bowling-green, or
7. n. the game of skittles or ninepins on a long, floored surface of wood called a bowling-alley. (See bowls.) In the former game the bowls are made with a bias, that is, oblate on one side and prolate on the other, and are of a size which admits of their being grasped more or less firmly between the thumb and the fingers. In the latter game the balls are sometimes much larger, and furnished with holes to facilitate grasping them, and are but slightly biased, if at all.
8. n. A turn at a game of bowls: as, it is his bowl next.
9. n. 4 (pron. böl). A marble used by boys in play; in the plural, the game itself.
10. n. In a knitting-machine, the roller or antifriction wheel on which the carriage traverses.
11. n. One of the buoys or floats used by herring-fishers about Yarmouth, England, to support, the drift-net and keep its edge uppermost. These bowls are colored to mark the divisions of the fleet of nets.
12. To play with bowls or at bowling: as, “challenge her to bowl,” Shak., L. L. L., iv.
13. To roll a bowl, as in the game of bowls.
14. To deliver the ball to be played by the batsman at cricket.
15. To move horizontally, with a rapid and easy motion, like a ball: as, the carriage bowled along.
16. To roll or trundle, as a bowl.
17. To pelt with or as with bowls.
18. n. The main cylinder or drum of a calico-printing machine, against which are pressed the engraved copper rollers; a calender-roller.
19. n. An antifriction roller in the pedal-motion of the feeding-device of a cotton-scutcher or picking-machine.

Wiktionary

1. n. The ball rolled by players in the game of lawn bowls.
2. n. The action of bowling a ball.
3. n. in the plural The game of bowls.
4. n. American football an important annual game, such as the Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl, or the Super Bowl
5. v. transitive To roll or throw (a ball) in the correct manner in cricket and similar games and sports.
6. v. intransitive To throw the ball (in cricket and similar games and sports).
7. n. A roughly hemispherical container used to hold, mix or present food, such as salad, fruit or soup, or other items.
8. n. As much as is held by a bowl.
9. n. A haircut in which straight hair is cut at an even height around the edges, forming a bowl shape.
10. n. A round crater (or similar) in the ground.
11. n. The part of a spoon that holds content, as opposed to the handle.
12. n. a part of a pipe or bong packed with marijuana for smoking
13. n. American football a major game between leading teams in their respective leagues (i.e. Rose Bowl, Superbowl)

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A concave vessel of various forms (often approximately hemispherical), to hold liquids, etc.
2. n. Specifically, a drinking vessel for wine or other spirituous liquors; hence, convivial drinking.
3. n. The contents of a full bowl; what a bowl will hold.
4. n. The hollow part of a thing.
5. n. A ball of wood or other material used for rolling on a level surface in play; a ball of hard wood having one side heavier than the other, so as to give it a bias when rolled.
6. n. An ancient game, popular in Great Britain, played with biased balls on a level plat of greensward.
7. n. U.S. The game of tenpins or bowling.
8. v. To roll, as a bowl or cricket ball.
9. v. To roll or carry smoothly on, or as on, wheels.
10. v. To pelt or strike with anything rolled.
11. v. To play with bowls.
12. v. To roll a ball on a plane, as at cricket, bowls, etc.
13. v. To move rapidly, smoothly, and like a ball.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a large structure for open-air sports or entertainments
2. v. hurl a cricket ball from one end of the pitch towards the batsman at the other end
3. n. a small round container that is open at the top for holding tobacco
4. n. a dish that is round and open at the top for serving foods
5. n. a wooden ball (with flattened sides so that it rolls on a curved course) used in the game of lawn bowling
6. v. roll (a ball)
7. n. a concave shape with an open top
8. n. the act of rolling something (as the ball in bowling)
9. n. the quantity contained in a bowl
10. n. a round vessel that is open at the top; used chiefly for holding food or liquids
11. v. engage in the sport of bowling
12. n. a large ball with finger holes used in the sport of bowling