gamble 
We make of life a gamble, and our institutions, our edu- 
cation, our literature, our ideals, and even our religion, 
all foster the spirit. N. A. Ken., C.XLII. 395. 
When they take their "little all" . . . out of the dull 
Three per Cents and put it into the Snowy Mountain Mines 
(Salted), which promise them thirty per cent., they are 
well aware that they are going in for a gamble. 
T. G. Bowles, Flotsam and Jetsam, xxxviii. 
gamble 2 (gam'bl), n. [Dim. otgamh, or var. of 
the related gambrel.'] A leg. [Prov. Eng.] 
gambler (gam'bler), n. One who gambles; one 
addicted to gaming or playing for money or 
other stakes ; a gamester. 
A gambler's acquaintance Is readily made and easily 
kept provided you gamble too. Bulwer, Pelham, Ixxiv. 
gambling-house (gam'bling-hous), n. A gam- 
ing-house; a house kept for the accommoda- 
tion of persons who play at games of hazard 
for stakes Common gambling-house. See cow- 
nton. 
gamboge (gam-boj' or -boj'), [Also written 
gambooge; a corruption (prob. originating in 
trade use) of what would reg. be eamboge (NL. 
carribogia),<. Camboja, usually called Cambodia, a 
French protectorate in Farther India.] A gum 
resin, the inspissated juice of various species 
of the guttiferous genus Garcinia. The gamboge 
of commerce is mainly derived from G. Hanburyi, a hand- 
some laurel like tree of shun. Cambodia, and Cochin 
China. (See cut under Qarcinia.) It is of a rich brown- 
ish-orange color, becoming brilliant yellow when pow- 
dered, forming a yellow emulsion with water, and having 
a disagreeable acrid taste. It is a drastic purgative, but 
is seldom used in medicine except in combination. It Is 
mostly used as a pigment in water-color painting, produ- 
cing transparent yellows, verging on brown in deep masses. 
It is quite durable as a water-color, and fairly so in oil. 
Ceylon gamboge is obtained from G. Morella. False 
gamboge is a similar but inferior product of G. Xantho- 
chpnius. The so-called American gamboge is the juice of 
Vismia Guianeiuix and other species of South America. 
In doses of a dram or even less gamboge has produced 
death. 
The pipe gamboge of Siam. so called because it is pre- 
served in the hollows of bamboos, is considered the best 
which comes into the London markets, and commands the 
highest price. 
A. G. F. Eliot James, Indian Industries, p. 101. 
Extract of gamboge, a pigment composed of gamboge 
and alumina. 
gambogian, gambogic (gam-bo'ji-an or -bS'ji- 
an, gam-bo'jik or -bo'jik), a. Pertaining to 
gamboge. 
gamboised (gam'boizd), a. [< OF. gamboist, 
gambise, etc., < gambais, gambeson: see gam- 
beson.'] Quilted or padded, as in the making of 
a gambeson ; especially, quilted in longitudinal 
folds or ridges so as to be pliable in one direc- 
tion and more or less stiff in the other. 
gamboiserie (F. pron. gou-bwo-z6-re'), n. 
Gamboised work. 
gamboisont, Same as gtimbeson. 
gambol (gam'bql), n. [Early mod. E. gambold, 
ganibauld, gambaud; < F. gambade, a gambol, < 
It. gambata, a kick, < gamba, the leg: see gamb 
and jamb.~\ A skipping, leaping, or frisking 
about ; a spring, leap, skip, or jump, as in frolic 
or sport. 
Quid est quod sic gestis? What is the matter that you 
leape and skyppe so? for that you fet such gambauldes. 
Udall, Flowers of Latin Speaking, fol. 72. 
Some to disport them selfs their soudry maistries tried on 
grasse, 
And some their gamboldes plaid. Phaer, .-Kneid, vi. 
Bacchus through the conquer'd Indies rode, 
And beasts in gambols frisk'd before their honest god. 
Dryden. 
gambol (gam'bol), v. i. ; pret. and pp. gamboied, 
gambolled, ppT.gamboling, gambolling. [From 
the noun; of. F. gambiller, kick about, < OF. 
gambille, dim. of gambe, F. jambe, leg : see gam- 
bol, n.~\ To skip about in sport ; caper in frolic, 
like children or lambs ; frisk carelessly or heed- 
Be kind and courteous to this gentleman ; 
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes ; 
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries ; 
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries. 
Shak., SI. N. D., ill. 1. 
It is not madness 
That I have uttered : bring me to the test, 
And I the matter will re-word ; which madness 
Would gambol from. Shak., Hamlet, ill. 4. 
Bears, tigers, ounces, pards, 
Gamboll'd before them. Milton, P. L., iv. 345. 
= Syn. To frolic, romp, caper, 
garubonet, and v. An obsolete form of </a- 
J0 2 . 
gambrel (gam'brel), n. [Also written gambril, 
cambrel, cambril, chambrel (cf . E. dial, gammerel, 
the small of the leg, and gamble, a leg) ; < OF. 
gambe, F. jambe, the leg: see gamb, iamb.] 1. 
The hock of a horse or other animal. 
2446 
' ' Gambrel I Gambrel > " Let me beg 
You'll look at a horse's hinder leg 
First great angle above the hoof 
That's the garnbret : hence gambrel-roof. 
0. W. IluliHCK, Autocrat, xii. 
2. A stick crooked like a horse's hind leg, used 
by butchers for suspending a carcass while 
dressing it. 
Myself spied two of them [my followers' suits] hang out 
at a stall with & gambrel thrust from shoulder to shoulder, 
like a sheep that were new flead. 
Chapman, Monsieur D'Olive, iii. 1. 
3. A gambrel-roof. 
Others occupy separate buildings, almost always of black, 
unpainted wood, sometimes with the long, sloping roof of 
Massachusetts, oftener with the quaint gambrel of Rhode 
Island. T. W. Iligginson, Oldport Days, p. 44. 
gambrel (gam'brel), v. t. ; pret. and pp. gam- 
breled, gambrelled, ppr. gambreling, gambrel- 
ling. [< gambrel, n.] 1. To hang up by means 
of a gambrel thrust through the legs. 
And meet me : or I'll box you while I have you, 
And carry you gambrill'd thither like a mutton. 
Fletcher (anil another"!), Nice Valour, Iv. 1. 
2. To form with a curb or crook : as, a gambreled 
roof. 
Here and there was a house in the then new style, three- 
cornered, with gambrelled roof and dormer windows. 
S. Judd, Margaret, p. 33. (Bartlett.) 
gambrel-roof (gam'brel-r8f), n. A roof the 
slope of which is broken by an obtuse angle 
like that of an animal's gambrel ; a curb-roof. 
See extract under gambrel, n., 1. 
gambroon (gam-br8n'), n. [Perhaps < Gom- 
broon (Gomeroon, Gomberoan), a Persian sea- 
port (now called Bender Abbasi), from which a 
large export trade was formerly carried on.] 
A twilled cloth : (1) of worsted and cotton, used 
for summer trousers; (2) of linen, made for 
linings. Diet, of Needlework. 
Gambusia (gam-bu'si-S), n. [NL. (Poey, about 
1850); < Cuban gambusina or gatnbusino, no- 
thing: a proverbial term expressing humor- 
ously a supposed something that is really no- 
thing.] A genus of eyprinodont fishes, con- 
taining such ovoviviparous killifishes as G.pa- 
trueliy, known as the top-minnow, a common 
species in the lowland streams of the southern 
Atlantic States. 
Gambusiinae (gam-bu-si-I'ne), n. pi. [NL., < 
Gambusia + -ince.] A subfamily of eyprino- 
dont fishes, typified by the genus Gambusia. 
They have the dentary lx>nes firmly united, the eyes nor 
mal, and the sexes diverse, the anal fin of the male being 
advanced forward and its anterior rays modified as an in- 
tromittent organ. The species are of small size and con- 
fined to America. 
gamdeboo (gam'de-bo), n. [African.] The 
stinkwood of Natal, Celtis Kraussiana, a small 
tree with tough light-colored wood. 
game 1 (gam), n. and a. [< ME. game, an abbre- 
viation (due to mistaking the term, -en for a suf- 
fix of inflection) of gamen, gomen, also spelled 
gammen (> mod. E. gammon^, q. v.), < AS. gamen, 
gomen, game, joy, sport, = OS. gaman = OFries. 
game, gome = OHG. gaman, MHG. gamen, joy, 
= Icel. gaman, game, sport, amusement, = 
OSw. gammen, Sw. gamman = ODan. gamell, 
Dan. gammen, mirth, merriment. Hence ult. 
gamble, gammon 1 .'] I. n. 1. Mirth; amuse- 
ment ; play ; sport of any kind ; joke ; jest, as 
opposed to earnest: as, to make game.ot a per- 
son, or of his pretensions or actions (now the 
chief use of the word in this sense). See to 
make game of, below. 
" Wherefore," quod she, "in ernest and in game, 
To putte in me the defaute ye are to blame." 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 874. 
But goldles for to be it is no game. 
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 290. 
And gladness through the palace spread, 
Wi' mickle game and glee. 
Skicen Anna; Fair Annie (Child's Ballads, III. 389). 
Then on her head they sett a girlond grcene, 
And crowned her twixt earnest and twixt game. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. xii. 8. 
We have had pastimes here, and pleasant game. 
Shak., L.'L. L., v. 2. 
These many years in this most wretched island 
We two have liv'd, the scorn and game of Fortune. 
Fletcher (and another), Sea Voyage, i. 3. 
Thou shalt stand to all posterity, 
The eternal game and laughter. 
B. Jonnon, Sejanus, v. 4. 
2. A play or sport for amusement or diversion. 
In their games children are actors, architects, and poets, 
and sometimes musical composers as well. 
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 540. 
3. A contest for success or superiority in a 
trial of chance, skill, or endurance, or of anytwo 
or all three of these combined : as, a game at 
game 
cards, dice, or roulette ; the games of billiards, 
draughts, and dominoes; athletic games; the 
Floral games. The games of classical antiquity were 
chiefly public trials of athletic skill and endurance, as 
in throwing the discus, wrestling, boxing, leaping, run- 
ning, horse- and chariot-racing, etc. They were exhibited 
either iieriodk-jin.v, usually in honor of some god, as the 
Olympir, I'ythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games of Greece, 
the Lmli Apollinares at Koine, etc., or from time to time 
for the amusement of the people, as the Circe nsian games 
at Rome. The prizes in the Greek periodical games were 
generally without intrinsic value, as garlands or wreaths 
of olive- or laurel-leaves, of parsley, etc. ; but at the Pan- 
athenaic games of Athens the prizes were quantities of 
olive-oil from the consecrated orchards, given in a special 
type of painted amphora?, of which a hundred or more 
might constitute a single prize. The four great Greek na- 
tiiMiiil games formed the strongest bond in the nature of 
a national union between the various independent Greek 
states. At them any person of Hellenic blood had the 
right to contest for the victory, the most highly esteemed 
honor in Greece; and citizens of all states, however hos- 
tile, met at these games in peace. 
Lycaon hath the report of setting our first publicke 
games, and proving of maistries and feats of strength and 
activitee, in Arcadia. Holland, tr. of Pliny, vil. 66. 
A fool 
That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake drawn. 
Shak., W. T., 1. 2. 
In certain nations also there were instituted particular 
games of the Torch, to the honour of Prometheus; in which 
they who ran for the prize carried lighted torches. 
Bacon, Physical Fables, ii. 
" My cocks," says he, "are true cocks of the pome I 
make a match of cock-fighting, and then an hundred or 
two pounds are soon won, for I never fight a battle under.' 
Strult, Sports and Pastimes, p. 20. 
4. The art or mode of playing at a game : as, 
he plays a remarkable game. 
" What wilt thou bet," said Robin Hood, 
" Thou seest our game the worse ? " 
ftobin Hood and Queen Katherine (Child's Ballads, V. 317). 
6. The successful result of a game, or that which 
is staked on the result: as, the game is ours. 
All the best archers of the north 
Sholde come upon a daye, 
And he that shoteth altherbest 
The game shall here away. 
Lytell Gette of Robyn Hade (Child's Ballads, V. 93). 
The ladies began to shout, 
" Madam, your game is gone." 
Robin Hoodand Queen Katherine (Child's Ballads, V. 317). 
6. The requisite number of points or advan- 
tages to be gained in order to win a game : as, 
in cribbage 61 is game or the game. 7. A 
scheme; plan; project; artifice. 
From Lord Sunderland's returning to his post all men 
concluded that his declaring as he did for the exclusion 
wns certainly done by direction from the King, who natu- 
rally loved craft and a double game. 
Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Times, an. 1682. 
8f. Amorous sport ; gallantry ; intrigue. 
Set them down 
For sluttish spoils of opportunity, 
And daughters of the game. 
Shak., T. and C., iv. 5. 
9. Sport in the field; field-sports, as the chase, 
falconry, etc. 
Some sportsmen, that were abroad upon game, spied a 
company of bustards and cranes. Sir Jt. L' Estrange. 
10. That which is pursued or taken in hunt- 
ing ; the spoil of the chase ; quarry ; prey. 
Both of howndes and hawkis game, 
After, he taught hym all ; and same, 
In sea, in feld, and eke in ryvere. 
Quoted in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 11. 
The nearer the hound hunting is to his game, the greater 
is his desire, the fresher is the scent. 
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 205. 
Hynde Etin's to the hunting gane ; 
And he has tane wi' him his eldest son, 
For to carry his game. 
Hynde Etin (Child's Ballads, I. 296). 
The King return 'd from out the wild, 
He bore but little game in hand. 
Tennyson, The Victim. 
11. Collectively, animals of the chase; those 
wild animals that are pursued or taken for sport 
or profit, in hunting, trapping, fowling, or fish- 
ing; specifically, the animals useful to man, 
and whose preservation is therefore desirable, 
which are enumerated under this designation 
in the game-laws regulating their pursuit. 
By a very singular anomaly, which has had important 
practical results, game is not strictly private property 
under English law ; but the doctrine on the subject is 
traceable to the later influence of the Roman law. 
Maine, Village Communities, p. 142. 
12. A game-fowl or game-eock. See phrases 
below. 13f. A flock: said of swans. 
No man having less than five marks per annum could 
lawfully keep a game of swans. Encyc. Brit., XI. 701. 
Actlangames. See Action. Big game, the larger quad- 
rupeds. Black-breasted red game, the most typical 
variety of game-fowl, in which the hackle and saddle-fea- 
thers of the cock are a brilliant light red or orange, the 
back and wing-bows rich glossy red, the wing-secondaries 
