roulette
roulette Lexical Profile
roulette Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A casino game of chance in which players place bets on which numbered red or black compartment of a revolving wheel a small spinning ball will come to rest within.
"A small crowd gathered around the table to watch the dealer spin the wheel during a tense game of roulette."
A small, toothed revolving wheel mounted on a handle, used by engravers to make dotted lines or in philately to create perforations between postage stamps.
"The printmaker rolled a fine metal roulette across the copper plate to create subtle shading in the background."
A mathematical curve traced by a fixed point on a curve that rolls without slipping along another stationary curve or line.
"In geometry class, the professor demonstrated how a cycloid is a specific type of roulette generated by a rolling circle."
• verb
To perforate or mark with a series of small slits, dots, or indentations using a toothed wheel (especially of postage stamps, paper, or engraved plates).
"Early postal printers often chose to roulette the sheets of stamps so clerks could separate them without scissors."
• Rhymes for roulette
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from French 'roulette', literally meaning 'little wheel', a diminutive of Old French 'roelle', which ultimately derives from Latin 'rota' ('wheel').