Bowls

a rather deep, round dish or basin, used chiefly for holding liquids, food, etc.
the contents of a bowl:
a bowl of tomato soup.
a rounded, cuplike, hollow part:
the bowl of a pipe.
a large drinking cup.
festive drinking; conviviality.
any bowl-shaped depression or formation.
an edifice with tiers of seats forming sides like those of a bowl, having the arena at the bottom; stadium.
Also called bowl game. a football game played after the regular season by teams selected by the sponsors of the game, usually as representing the best from a region of the country:
the Rose Bowl.
Typography. a curved or semicircular line of a character, as of a, d, b, etc.
to give (a floor) a gentle inclination on all sides toward some area, as a stage or platform.
one of the balls, having little or no bias, used in playing ninepins or tenpins.
one of the biased or weighted balls used in lawn bowling.
bowls, (used with a singular verb) lawn bowling.
a delivery of the ball in bowling or lawn bowling.
(formerly) a rotating cylindrical part in a machine, as one to reduce friction.
to play at bowling or bowls; participate in or have a game or games of bowling.
to roll a bowl or ball.
to move along smoothly and rapidly.
Cricket. to deliver the ball to be played by the batsman.
to roll or trundle, as a ball or hoop.
to attain by bowling:
He bowls a good game. She usually bowls a 120 game, but today she bowled 180.
to knock or strike, as by the ball in bowling (usually followed by over or down).
to carry or convey, as in a wheeled vehicle.
Cricket. to eliminate (a batsman) by bowling (usually followed by out):
He was bowled for a duck. He was bowled out for a duck.
bowl over, to surprise greatly:
We were bowled over by the news.
a game played with wooden balls on a level, closely mowed green having a slight bias, the object being to roll one’s ball as near as possible to a smaller white ball at the other end of the green.
Also called bowls, bowling on the green.
Compare bowl2 (def 2), bowling green, jack1 (def 7), rink (def 5).
Contemporary Examples

What to Eat: An Adult Halloween Dinner Party The Daily Beast October 19, 2009
Gertrude of Arabia, the Woman Who Invented Iraq Clive Irving June 16, 2014
Bon Jovi Rocks Hunger Laura Colarusso October 23, 2011
Can Celine Dion Save Vegas? Tony Doukopil, Ramin Setoodeh March 12, 2011
Ramen Burger’s Inventor Talks About the Food Craze Eclipsing the Cronut Marlow Stern August 8, 2013

Historical Examples

History of Ancient Art Franz von Reber
Introductory American History Henry Eldridge Bourne
Illustrated Catalogue Of The Collections Obtained From The Indians Of New Mexico And Arizona In 1879 James Stevenson
The New Land Elma Ehrlich Levinger
Health, Happiness, and Longevity Louis Philippe McCarty

noun (functioning as sing)

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
(as modifier): a bowls tournament

skittles or tenpin bowling
noun
a round container open at the top, used for holding liquid, keeping fruit, serving food, etc
Also bowlful. the amount a bowl will hold
the rounded or hollow part of an object, esp of a spoon or tobacco pipe
any container shaped like a bowl, such as a sink or lavatory
(mainly US) a bowl-shaped building or other structure, such as a football stadium or amphitheatre
a bowl-shaped depression of the land surface See also dust bowl
(literary)

a drinking cup
intoxicating drink

noun
a wooden ball used in the game of bowls, having flattened sides, one side usually being flatter than the other in order to make it run on a curved course
a large heavy ball with holes for gripping with the fingers and thumb, used in tenpin bowling
verb
to roll smoothly or cause to roll smoothly, esp by throwing underarm along the ground
(intransitive) usually foll by along. to move easily and rapidly, as in a car
(cricket)

to send (a ball) down the pitch from one’s hand towards the batsman, keeping the arm straight while doing so
Also bowl out. to dismiss (a batsman) by delivering a ball that breaks his wicket

(intransitive) to play bowls or tenpin bowling
(transitive) (in tenpin bowling) to score (a specified amount): he bowled 120
n.

Noon apprentice … [shall] play … at the Tenys, Closshe, Dise, Cardes, Bowles nor any other unlawfull game. [Act 11, Henry VII, 1495]

n.
v.