conkers
conkers Lexical Profile
conkers Game Scores & Validity
• noun
British A traditional children's game in which two players take turns striking each other's horse chestnut, each threaded onto a piece of string, until one of the nuts shatters.
"Every autumn, children gather on the school playground to play conkers with chestnuts collected from the local park."
British The hard, glossy brown seeds of the horse chestnut tree, especially when collected for play.
"We filled our coat pockets with shiny conkers that had fallen from the trees along the lane."
Word Nuance & Usage
When referring to the traditional game itself, 'conkers' is treated as a singular uncountable noun (e.g., 'Conkers is played in autumn'), whereas it functions as a regular plural when referring to the horse chestnut seeds.
• Rhymes for conkers
Word Origin & Etymology
Dating from the mid-19th century, the word likely derives from the British dialect word 'conker' meaning a snail shell ( originally used in a similar striking game), or as a phonetic alteration of the verb 'conquer'.