Brewer's: Billiards

A corrupt form of the French billard. “Autrefois, le bâton avec lequel on poussait les billes”; then “la table verte sur laquelle on joue”; and, lastly, the “game itself.”

Similar plural forms are the games called bowls, cards, dominoes, draughts, marbles, quoits, skittles, tops, etc.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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