Home UK English carom

Meaning of carom in English:

carom

Pronunciation /ˈkarəm/

See synonyms for carom on Thesaurus.com

Translate carom into Spanish

noun

mainly North American

  • 1A cannon in billiards or pool.

    ‘He mastered the caroms, and was called the ‘Reading Rifle’ because of his great arm.’’
    • ‘The result: the kind of crazy caroms and tricky spins you'd expect from a pinball machine.’
    1. 1.1mass noun A game resembling billiards, played on a table without pockets and depending on cannons for scoring.
      • ‘The name of the game is carom, the original game from which billiards and later snooker developed.’

verb

[no object]mainly North American

  • Make a carom; strike and rebound.

    ‘But the ball caromed off a tree and bounced back into a bunker, leaving a shot at the green.’
    • ‘In the bottom of the fifth inning, Manny Ramirez hit a shot down the third base line that caromed off the stands and struck Gerry Davis, the left field line umpire.’
    • ‘The ball crashed off the center field wall before caroming back onto the outfield grass.’
    • ‘The ball hit the base runner and caromed into the hands of the second baseman who threw the batter/runner out.’
    • ‘The ball caromed off his forehead into the hands of shortstop Bill Knickerbocker.’
    • ‘The ball, however, made contact with umpire Paul Runge, who was positioned on the infield side, and it caromed into short left field behind the shortstop.’
    • ‘Ilham almost found the Saudi net with his free header in the 42nd minute after receiving a good cross from the right side, but the ball caromed off the crossbar.’
    • ‘It caromed to the left, barely missing Elijah's thigh and clipping the wall behind him, creating an impact circle the size of a thumb.’
    • ‘We saw one ball bounce off it during a pitcher's warm-up, and it caromed past the mound almost to the first baseman's position!’
    • ‘The puck caromed off another spectator before hitting Cecil, whose seat was more than 100 feet behind the glass.’
    • ‘She hurled it at the ant, and the stone caromed off the carapace.’
    • ‘The ball hopped hard to the right, nowhere to go but out of bounds, until it caromed off the 7cm wide post and back into play.’
    • ‘It hit the leftfield wall, caromed around the outfield, and the left fielder picked up the ball.’
    • ‘The ball then caromed back toward the line of scrimmage.’
    • ‘With five seconds left, James missed a free throw, which caromed off to the left side.’
    • ‘Instead of removing the ball from harm's way, it caromed off her foot and dribbled into the open goal.’
    • ‘As Appling reached down for the ball, it took a bad hop and caromed off his shoulder.’
    • ‘The holes are situated in valleys and are very user-friendly: Nearly every tee is elevated and wayward drives carom safely back into play.’
    • ‘The ball tended to carom off those thick flagsticks, too.’
    • ‘Its fairways often are bordered by gentle slopes that carom the ball back toward the fairway.’
    ricochet, rebound, be deflected

Origin

Late 18th century abbreviation of carambole, from Spanish carambola, apparently from bola ‘ball’.