tourney
tourney Lexical Profile
tourney Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A sporting or gaming tournament consisting of a series of matches in which competitors play for an overall championship (used informally).
"Our college basketball team won three straight games to advance to the final round of the regional tourney."
A medieval sporting event in which armored knights competed on horseback with blunted lances and swords to display martial skill and chivalry.
"Heralds blew their trumpets to summon the armored knights to the grand royal tourney."
• verb
To take part or compete in a tournament, especially a medieval jousting contest.
"Visiting knights from across the realm gathered at the castle grounds to tourney before the royal court."
Word Nuance & Usage
Notice the strong register contrast between its two senses: in contemporary English, "tourney" is almost exclusively an informal, colloquial shortening of "tournament" in sports and gaming, whereas in reference to medieval jousting it carries an elevated, historical, or literary tone.
• Rhymes for tourney
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in Middle English from Old French tornei (noun) and torneier (verb), meaning "to turn" or "to wheel one's horse around in a joust," ultimately from Vulgar Latin tornizare and Latin tornare ("to turn on a lathe").