Home US English euchre

Definition of euchre in English:

euchre

Pronunciation /ˈyo͞okər/ /ˈjukər/

noun

  • A card game for two to four players, usually played with the thirty-two highest cards, the aim being to win at least three of the five tricks played.

    ‘That's about the only good thing that has happened today, winning four games of euchre in a row.’
    • ‘And then I'll teach you how to play solitaire euchre.’
    • ‘I spent many a sunny afternoon in the smoky darkness of a pool hail in a small central Illinois town where wizened men took my pennies at euchre, gin rummy and poker.’
    • ‘I spent most of my time there playing euchre, which is the best card game I have ever played.’
    • ‘The men played loud games of cutthroat euchre or pinochle under the trees while the women luxuriated by doing nothing.’
    • ‘When I came back I decided to create a game with the cards you don't use in euchre.’
    • ‘Otherwise, play and scoring are the same as in two-handed euchre.’
    • ‘In the end euchre had been replaced by poker, the beer by pop, and their enthusiasm by exhaustion.’
    • ‘He's going to have to call my sister ‘Bubble Butt’ and he's going to make lewd gestures at me while we play euchre.’
    • ‘So, hats off to you Grandad… you're a true hero (and not too bad at kicking my butt at euchre either).’
    • ‘Because my family's from Indiana, our friend had to learn to play euchre (it's quite similar to a game her family taught me in France, called belote, so she got the hang of it quickly).’
    • ‘They don't look like money; they look like duffers playing euchre on the 19th hole, the way they're kicking back in khakis and golf shirts, one of them scratching his sockless ankle.’
    • ‘She saw that Tamara, Juno, Lynn, and Tamika were playing euchre at the patio table… while the others just sat around and let time pass them.’
    • ‘I don't know how to play euchre but I'm smart so I could learn.’
    • ‘Lynn got Tamika, Leeta, and Mimi into playing euchre and the others just sat back, and did their own thing.’
    • ‘I'm not good at euchre, but I used to be and I know some people who are.’
    • ‘You don't even have to watch it - just let it play over a game of euchre and catch a few snippets.’
    • ‘Tonight we're playing euchre, after we played euchre Tuesday night.’
    • ‘In time, my room became quite the gathering place for gamers with chess and euchre proving most popular at first.’
    • ‘I'm not sure about toys but a good game of poker or euchre can really get the competitive juices flowing before retiring for the night.’

transitive verb

[with object]

  • 1(in the card game euchre) gain the advantage over (another player) by preventing them from taking three tricks.

    ‘The score for winning all the tricks or euchring the makers is 3 points instead of 2.’
    • ‘If you lose a trick you are euchred; and if you get euchred going alone, the deck scores four points.’
    • ‘Bushing or Waiting in the bushes is passing when you hold enough cards to make trump, hoping instead to euchre the opponent who picks up.’
    wreck, ruin, spoil, disrupt, undo, upset, play havoc with, make a mess of, put an end to, end, bring to an end, put a stop to, terminate, prevent, frustrate, blight, crush, quell, quash, dash, scotch, shatter, vitiate, blast, devastate, demolish, sabotage, torpedo
    1. 1.1North American informal Deceive, outwit, or cheat (someone)
      • ‘the merchant can be euchred out of his caftan by hard bargaining’
      • ‘‘He really euchred me there,’ he says with a grin.’
      • ‘You may recall that he euchred Elizabeth's uncle into visiting a site where his experts said Elizabeth's body could have been found.’
      deceive, trick, play a trick on, hoax, dupe, take in, mislead, delude, hoodwink, bluff, beguile, gull, make a fool of, outwit

Origin

Early 19th century from German dialect Jucker(spiel).