Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A board game for two persons, played with pieces whose moves are determined by throws of dice, with the object being to move all of one's pieces to an end point where they are removed from the board. The first player to have no pieces on the board wins.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To beat by winning a backgammon. See backgammon, n., 2.
  • noun A game played by two persons upon a table or board made for the purpose, with pieces or men, dice-boxes, and dice.
  • noun A single bout at backgammon won by a player before his opponent has advanced all of his men from the first six points.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A game of chance and skill, played by two persons on a “board” marked off into twenty-four spaces called “points”. Each player has fifteen pieces, or “men”, the movements of which from point to point are determined by throwing dice. Formerly called tables.
  • noun a board for playing backgammon, often made in the form of two rectangular trays hinged together, each tray containing two “tables”.
  • transitive verb In the game of backgammon, to beat by ending the game before the loser is clear of his first “table”. When played for betting purposes, the winner in such a case scores three times the wagered amount.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A board game for two players in which each has 15 stones which move between 24 triangular points according to the roll of a pair of dice; the object is to move all of one's pieces around, and bear them off the board.
  • noun backgammon A victory in the game when the loser has not borne off a stone, and still has one or more stones in the winner's inner home row or on the bar.
  • verb To win at a backgammon game with the opponent having one or more pieces in the winner’s inner home row or on the bar.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a board game for two players; pieces move according to throws of the dice

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[back + gammon.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from back + Middle English, Old English gamen ("amusement")

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Examples

  • Games and such … backgammon is huge here, you can get hand carved wooden boards, they play it constantly and they will win; p, almost everyone can play chess also, as well as the Russian version of checkers that is not too much different from the American version.

    Uz Packing Advice (updated 05.11.03) 2003

  • An entrepreneur Ashot Grigoryan won the first place in short backgammon tournament and a businessman Armen Patochyan took the first place in long one.

    Armenian News - PanARMENIAN.Net 2009

  • In its efforts to become the safest, most reliable backgammon room online, Play65 has formed an objective and independent Board of Trustees, designed to clean the backgammon room from its cheaters, mainly those who create an unfair advantage using computerized aiding tools, known as backgammon bots.

    WebWire | Recent Headlines 2009

  • In fact, the earliest form of the familiar checkers can be traced to the Egyptians as early as 600 B.C. Other popular games, such as backgammon and chess, have also provided years of fun and excitement for families and friends.

    October Board and Card Game Patents 2008

  • In fact, the earliest form of the familiar checkers can be traced to the Egyptians as early as 600 B.C. Other popular games, such as backgammon and chess, have also provided years of fun and excitement for families and friends.

    Archive 2008-11-01 2008

  • There were many non-combat-themed games, such as backgammon and Golf Master 3D.

    Free Web Games for Kids Come at a Cost 2007

  • A little leather cap (shaped something like a fez, with a little button on the top, and of such size as to fit loosely over the pile of cents) with an ordinary die, such as backgammon is played with, complete the necessary apparatus.

    Healthful Sports for Boys Alfred Rochefort

  • The etymology of the word "backgammon" is disputed; it is probably Saxon -- _baec_, back, _gamen_, game; _i. e._ a game in which the players are liable to be sent back.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" Various

  • Its very name, "backgammon," so English in sound, is but a corruption from the two Arabic words _bacca_, and _gamma_ (my pronunciation of which stands subject to correction), meaning -- if I remember rightly -- "the board game."

    Angels & Ministers Laurence Housman 1912

  • Saloo went in search of another Singapore oyster; Murtagh started along the bank of the stream, in the hope of beguiling some of the red and gold fish he saw playing "backgammon" in it, as he had seen the trout and salmon in his native Killarney; while the captain, having procured a rifle, that had been brought away in the boat, and which he well knew how to handle, wandered off into the woods.

    The Castaways Mayne Reid 1850

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