Billiards
a word probably derived from old French billiard, "a stick with a curved end"; in English, introduced as the name duced as the name of a game, and made plural. The origin of billiards is uncertain. It was bro brought into fashion by Louis XIV. ( Louis XIV. (middle of 17th century), whose physicians recommended him exercise after eating. Others believe bil- English origin. It is mentioned by Spenser ("Mother Hubbard's Tale," 1591 ), and by Shakespeare ("Antony and Cleopatra," circa, 1607). description of billiards in English is in Cotton's "Compleat Gamebed of the table was then made of oak; sometimes of marble.
Slate beds were first used about 1827.
The cushions were stuffed with flock; list was used later. India rubber cushions were first manufactured about 1835.
The p pockets, called hazards, were at first wooden boxes, nets being employed soon afterward.
Each player pushed his ball with a mast (now corrupted into mace), made of heavy wood, and tipped at the broad end with ivory. The game played the was the white winning game (single pool), five or three up. A player holdan end (or life); if he holed his own ball he lost a life (hence the terms winning and losaddition, a small arch of ivory, called a port, and an ivory peg or king, stood on the table, and certain scores appertained to passing the port Early in the 19th century, the white winning and losing carambole game, now known as billiards, ousted all other varieties in England. It is played on a table 12 feet by 6 feet, surrounded by cushions, and having six pockets, of no fixed size, one at each angle of the two adwhich form the bed of the table: three balls, diameter 2 1-16th inches, are used. The French have long altogether, and play 3-Vol. and to touching the king.