Gambit noun [ French gambit , confer Italian gambitto gambit, a tripping up. See Gambol , noun ] (Chess Playing) A mode of opening the game, in which a pawn is sacrificed to gain an attacking position.

Gamble intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Gambled ; present participle & verbal noun Gambling .] [ Dim. of game . See 2d Game .] To play or game for money or other stake.

Gamble transitive verb To lose or squander by gaming; -- usually with away . "Bankrupts or sots who have gambled or slept away their estates." Ames.

Gamble noun An act of gambling; a transaction or proceeding involving gambling; hence, anything involving similar risk or uncertainty. [ Colloq.]

Gambler noun One who gambles.

Gamboge noun A concrete juice, or gum resin, produced by several species of trees in Siam, Ceylon, and Malabar. It is brought in masses, or cylindrical rolls, from Cambodia , or Cambogia , -- whence its name. The best kind is of a dense, compact texture, and of a beatiful reddish yellow. Taken internally, it is a strong and harsh cathartic and emetic. [ Written also camboge .]

» There are several kinds of gamboge, but all are derived from species of Garcinia , a genus of trees of the order Guttiferæ . The best Siam gamboge is thought to come from Garcinia Hanburii . Ceylon gamboge is from G. Morella . G. pictoria , of Western India, yields gamboge , and also a kind of oil called gamboge butter .

Gambogian, Gambogic adjective Pertaining to, resembling, or containing, gamboge.

Gambol (găm"bŏl) noun [ Middle English gambolde , gambaulde , French gambade , gambol, from Italian gambata kick, from Latin gamba leg, akin to French jambe , Old French also, gambe , from Latin gamba , hoof or perhaps joint: confer Greek kamph` a binding, winding, W., Ir. & Gael. cam crooked; perhaps akin to English chamber : confer French gambiller to kick about. Confer Jamb , noun , Gammon ham, Gambadoes .] A skipping or leaping about in frolic; a hop; a sportive prank. Dryden.

Gambol intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Gamboled , or Gambolled ; present participle & verbal noun Gamboling or Gambolling .] To dance and skip about in sport; to frisk; to skip; to play in frolic, like boys or lambs.

Gambrel noun [ Old French gambe , jambe leg, French jambe . Confer Cambrel , Chambrel , and see Gambol . noun ]
1. The hind leg of a horse.

2. A stick crooked like a horse's hind leg; - - used by butchers in suspending slaughtered animals.

Gambrel roof (Architecture) , a curb roof having the same section in all parts, with a lower steeper slope and an upper and flatter one, so that each gable is pentagonal in form.

Gambrel transitive verb To truss or hang up by means of a gambrel. Beau. & Fl.

Gambroon noun A kind of twilled linen cloth for lining. Simmonds.

Game adjective [ Confer W. cam crooked, and English gambol , noun ] Crooked; lame; as, a game leg. [ Colloq.]

Game noun [ Middle English game , gamen , Anglo-Saxon gamen , gomen , play, sport; akin to Old Saxon , Old High German , & Icelandic gaman , Danish gammen mirth, merriment, OSw. gamman joy. Confer Gammon a game, Backgammon , Gamble intransitive verb ]
1. Sport of any kind; jest, frolic.

We have had pastimes here, and pleasant game .

Shak.

2. A contest, physical or mental, according to certain rules, for amusement, recreation, or for winning a stake; as, a game of chance; games of skill; field games , etc.

But war's a game , which, were their subject wise,
Kings would not play at.

Cowper.

» Among the ancients, especially the Greeks and Romans, there were regularly recurring public exhibitions of strength, agility, and skill under the patronage of the government, usually accompanied with religious ceremonies. Such were the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian games .

3. The use or practice of such a game; a single match at play; a single contest; as, a game at cards.

Talk the game o'er between the deal.

Lloyd.

4. That which is gained, as the stake in a game; also, the number of points necessary to be scored in order to win a game; as, in short whist five points are game .

5. (Card Playing) In some games, a point credited on the score to the player whose cards counts up the highest.

6. A scheme or art employed in the pursuit of an object or purpose; method of procedure; projected line of operations; plan; project.

Your murderous game is nearly up.

Blackw. Mag.

It was obviously Lord Macaulay's game to blacken the greatest literary champion of the cause he had set himself to attack.

Saintsbury.

7. Animals pursued and taken by sportsmen; wild meats designed for, or served at, table.

Those species of animals . . . distinguished from the rest by the well-known appellation of game .

Blackstone.

Confidence game . See under Confidence . -- To make game of , to make sport of; to mock. Milton.

Game adjective
1. Having a resolute, unyielding spirit, like the gamecock; ready to fight to the last; plucky.

I was game . . . .I felt that I could have fought even to the death.

W. Irving.

2. Of or pertaining to such animals as are hunted for game, or to the act or practice of hunting.

Game bag , a sportsman's bag for carrying small game captured; also, the whole quantity of game taken. -- Game bird , any bird commonly shot for food, esp. grouse, partridges, quails, pheasants, wild turkeys, and the shore or wading birds, such as plovers, snipe, woodcock, curlew, and sandpipers. The term is sometimes arbitrarily restricted to birds hunted by sportsmen, with dogs and guns. -- Game egg , an egg producing a gamecock. -- Game laws , laws regulating the seasons and manner of taking game for food or for sport. -- Game preserver , a land owner who regulates the killing of game on his estate with a view to its increase. [ Eng.] -- To be game . (a) To show a brave, unyielding spirit. (b) To be victor in a game. [ Colloq.] -- To die game , to maintain a bold, unyielding spirit to the last; to die fighting.

Game (gām) intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Gamed (gāmd); present participle & verbal noun Gaming .] [ Middle English gamen , game...en , to rejoice, Anglo-Saxon gamenian to play. See Game , noun ]
1. To rejoice; to be pleased; -- often used, in Old English, impersonally with dative. [ Obsolete]

God loved he best with all his whole hearte
At alle times, though him gamed or smarte.

Chaucer.

2. To play at any sport or diversion.

3. To play for a stake or prize; to use cards, dice, billiards, or other instruments, according to certain rules, with a view to win money or other thing waged upon the issue of the contest; to gamble.

Game fowl (-foul`). (Zoology) A handsome breed of the common fowl, remarkable for the great courage and pugnacity of the males.

Gamecock (-kŏk`) noun (Zoology) The male game fowl.

Gameful (-ful) adjective Full of game or games.

Gamekeeper (-kēp`ẽr) noun One who has the care of game, especially in a park or preserve. Blackstone.

Gameless adjective Destitute of game.

Gamely adverb In a plucky manner; spiritedly.

Gameness noun Endurance; pluck.

Gamesome adjective Gay; sportive; playful; frolicsome; merry. Shak.

Gladness of the gamesome crowd.

Byron.

-- Game"some*ly , adverb -- Game"some*ness , noun

Gamester noun [ Game + - ster .]
1. A merry, frolicsome person. [ Obsolete] Shak.

2. A person who plays at games; esp., one accustomed to play for a stake; a gambler; one skilled in games.

When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentlest gamester is the soonest winner.

Shak.

3. A prostitute; a strumpet. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Gamete (găm"ēt; gȧ*mēt"; the latter usually in compounds ) noun [ Greek gameth` wife, or game`ths husband, from gamei^n to marry.] (Biol.) A sexual cell or germ cell; a conjugating cell which unites with another of like or unlike character to form a new individual. In Bot. , gamete designates esp. the similar sex cells of the lower thallophytes which unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore . The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, sperm (male) and egg (female); their union is called fertilization , and the resulting zygote an oöspore . In Zoology , gamete is most commonly used of the sexual cells of certain Protozoa, though also extended to the germ cells of higher forms.

Gametophyte noun [ Gamete + Greek fyto`n plant.] (Botany) In the alternation of generations in plants, that generation or phase which bears sex organs. In the lower plants, as the algæ, the gametophyte is the conspicuous part of the plant body; in mosses it is the so-called moss plant; in ferns it is reduced to a small, early perishing body; and in seed plants it is usually microscopic or rudimentary.

Gamic adjective [ Greek ... marriage.] (Biol.) Pertaining to, or resulting from, sexual connection; formed by the union of the male and female elements.

Gamin noun [ French] A neglected and untrained city boy; a young street Arab.

In Japan, the gamins run after you, and say, 'Look at the Chinaman.'

Latin Oliphant.

Gaming noun The act or practice of playing games for stakes or wagers; gambling.

Gamma noun The third letter (Γ, γ = Eng. G ) of the Greek alphabet.

Gamma rays (Physics) Very penetrating rays not appreciably deflected by a magnetic or electric field, emitted by radioactive substances. The prevailing view is that they are non- periodic ether pulses differing from Röntgen rays only in being more penetrating.

Gammadion noun A cross formed of four capital gammas, formerly used as a mysterious ornament on ecclesiastical vestments, etc. See Fylfot .

Gammer (găm"mẽr) noun [ Possibly contr. from godmother ; but probably from grammer for grandmother . Confer Gaffer .] An old wife; an old woman; -- correlative of gaffer , an old man.

Gammon (-mŭn) noun [ Old French gambon , French jambon , from Old French gambe leg, French jambe . See Gambol , noun , and confer Ham .] The buttock or thigh of a hog, salted and smoked or dried; the lower end of a flitch. Goldsmith.

Gammon transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Gammoned (-mŭnd); present participle & verbal noun Gammoning .] To make bacon of; to salt and dry in smoke.
[ 1913 Webster]

Gammon noun [ See 2d Game .]
1. Backgammon.

2. An imposition or hoax; humbug. [ Colloq.]

Gammon transitive verb
1. To beat in the game of backgammon, before an antagonist has been able to get his "men" or counters home and withdraw any of them from the board; as, to gammon a person.

2. To impose on; to hoax; to cajole. [ Colloq.] Hood.

Gammon transitive verb [ Etymol. unknown.] (Nautical) To fasten (a bowsprit) to the stem of a vessel by lashings of rope or chain, or by a band of iron. Totten.

Gammoning noun [ From 5th Gammon .] (Nautical) The lashing or iron band by which the bowsprit of a vessel is secured to the stem to opposite the lifting action of the forestays.

Gammoning fashion , in the style of gammoning lashing, that is, having the turns of rope crossed. -- Gammoning hole (Nautical) , a hole cut through the knee of the head of a vessel for the purpose of gammoning the bowsprit.

Gammoning noun [ From 4th Gammon .] The act of imposing upon or hoaxing a person. [ Colloq.]

Gamogenesis noun [ Greek ... marriage + English genesis .] (Biol.) The production of offspring by the union of parents of different sexes; sexual reproduction; -- the opposite of agamogenesis .

Gamogenetic adjective (Biol.) Relating to gamogenesis. -- Gam`o*ge*net"ic*al*ly , adverb

Gamomorphism noun [ Greek ... marriage + ... form, shape.] (Biol.) That stage of growth or development in an organism, in which the reproductive elements are generated and matured in preparation for propagating the species.

Gamopetalous adjective [ Greek ... marriage + English petalous : confer French gamopétale .] (Botany) Having the petals united or joined so as to form a tube or cup; monopetalous.

Gamophyllous adjective [ Greek ... marriage + ... leaf.] (Botany) Composed of leaves united by their edges (coalescent). Gray.

Gamosepalous adjective [ Greek ... marriage + English sepal .] (Botany) Formed of united sepals; monosepalous.

Gamp noun A large umbrella; -- said to allude to Mrs. Gamp's umbrella, in Dickens's "Martin Chuzzlewit."

Gamut noun [ French gamme + ut the name of a musical note. French gamme is from the name of the Greek letter ..., which was used by Guido d'Arezzo to represent the first note of his model scale. See Gamma , and Ut .] (Mus.) The scale.

Gamy adjective
1. (Cookery) Having the flavor of game, esp. of game kept uncooked till near the condition of tainting; high- flavored.

2. (Sporting) Showing an unyielding spirit to the last; plucky; furnishing sport; as, a gamy trout.