skeeball
skeeball Lexical Profile
• noun
North American A popular amusement arcade game in which players roll wooden or plastic balls up an inclined lane and over a raised bump ('ski jump') into concentric target rings of varying point values.
"The children spent the afternoon playing skeeball at the boardwalk arcade to win prize tickets."
North American The small, solid ball rolled up the lane in the game of skeeball.
"She picked up the last skeeball and aimed carefully for the hundred-point ring in the upper corner."
Word Nuance & Usage
Originally a registered trademark styled as 'Skee-Ball', the term is frequently written in lowercase as 'skeeball' or 'skee-ball' when referring generically to the arcade game.
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in 1908 by American inventor Joseph Fourestier Simpson from 'skee' (an early spelling variant of 'ski', referring to the ski-jump-like ramp at the end of the lane) and 'ball'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.