bowls

British

/ bəʊlz /

noun

1. a game played on a bowling green in which a small bowl (the jack) is pitched from a mark and two opponents or opposing teams take turns to roll biased wooden bowls towards it, the object being to finish as near the jack as possible
2. ( as modifier )
  
  a bowls tournament
skittles or tenpin bowling

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There were poke bowls, a sandwich station, pizza, steak, ice cream sundae and even a “wrap station,” so you could take your food to go.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

Enjoy them on their own or top them on your favorite grain bowls and salads.

From Salon • Mar. 31, 2026

When you assemble the dessert into bowls and start dappling each island with caramel and toasted sliced almonds, your friends will begin to hover.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

They include "photos" of Samba riding a bike and playing a game of bowls while wearing a flat cap.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

Several bowls of soup line the ground, capsized and half-spilled.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023