roulette

[ roo-let ]

noun

1. a game of chance played at a table marked off with numbers from 1 to 36, one or two zeros, and several other sections affording the players a variety of betting opportunities, and having in the center a revolving, dishlike device roulettewheel into which a small ball is spun to come to rest finally in one of the 37 or 38 compartments, indicating the winning number and its characteristics, as odd or even, red or black, and between 1 and 18 or 19 and 36.
2. a small wheel, especially one with sharp teeth, mounted in a handle, for making lines of marks, dots, or perforations:

   engravers' roulettes; a roulette for perforating sheets of postage stamps.

3. Philately. a row of short cuts, in which no paper is removed, made between individual stamps to permit their ready separation.

verb (used with object)

, rou·let·ted, rou·let·ting.

1. to mark, impress, or perforate with a roulette.

roulette

/ ruːˈlɛt /

noun

1. a gambling game in which a ball is dropped onto a spinning horizontal wheel divided into 37 or 38 coloured and numbered slots, with players betting on the slot into which the ball will fall
2. 1. a toothed wheel for making a line of perforations
   2. a tiny slit made by such a wheel on a sheet of stamps as an aid to tearing it apart
3. a curve generated by a point on one curve rolling on another

verb

1. to use a roulette on (something), as in engraving, making stationery, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of roulette¹

1725–35; < French, diminutive of rouelle wheel. See rowel

Word History and Origins

Origin of roulette¹

C18: from French, from rouelle a little wheel, from roue a wheel, from Latin rota

Example Sentences

I went to try my luck at the roulette tables.

From Los Angeles Times

A council has been accused of "playing Russian roulette" with residents' lives over its plan to force people to get planning permission for second homes.

From BBC

“We are playing Russian roulette with the planet. We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell,” Guterres said, while adding: “The truth is, we have control of the wheel.”

From Seattle Times

“I liken drinking raw milk to playing Russian roulette,” O’Brien said.

From Seattle Times

Pallenberg’s story involves an unremitting cascade of drugs, addiction, volatile relationships and parenting tragedy, along with a 1979 incident in which a 17-year-old shot himself at her home, possibly playing Russian roulette.

From New York Times

Related Words

• poker