nine pins

Meanings

1. 1noununcountableold-fashioned

   A bowling game in which players roll a ball to knock down nine upright wooden pieces arranged in a diamond.

   Grammar: Treated as the name of a game, so it takes a singular verb: Nine pins is fun.

   Patterns

   • play nine pins

   Our grandfather taught us to play nine pins on the lawn behind the inn.

   At the village fair there was a nine pins contest for the children.

   Nine pins was popular long before modern ten-pin bowling spread.

2. 2nounplural

   The nine wooden targets themselves, set up to be knocked over.

   Grammar: Always plural when you mean the objects: the nine pins fell.

   Patterns

   • knock down the nine pins

   He rolled the heavy ball and the nine pins scattered across the floor.

   Please set the nine pins back in a neat diamond.

   The wooden nine pins had been worn smooth by years of play.

Common combinations

play nine pins

We used to play nine pins at the pub on summer evenings.

set up the nine pins

The boys ran ahead to set up the nine pins before the game.

knock down the nine pins

She managed to knock down the nine pins with a single roll.

fall like nine pins

The dominoes fell like nine pins, one after another.

a game of nine pins

A game of nine pins was the highlight of the garden party.

Synonyms and how they differ

skittles

Skittles is the British name for a closely related pin game and is more common in everyday British speech.

ninepins

This is the usual one-word spelling of the same game.

tenpin bowling

Tenpin bowling uses ten pins in a triangle and is the modern indoor sport, unlike the older nine-pin game.

Word family

pin noun

a slim upright target in bowling games

skittle noun

one of the pins in the game of skittles

bowling noun

the sport of rolling a ball at pins

Commonly confused: nine pins or tenpins?

Practice

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