skittle

Everyday

1. A wooden or plastic bottle-shaped piece that players try to knock down with a ball. tree →
2. Skittles is the game played with them, an older cousin of ten-pin bowling. tree →
3. (UK, informal) «Bowl over like skittles» or «knocked down like skittles» means many things falling quickly. tree →

In the lessons

A game word. Children play skittles in the garden or at a school fair; it is good for counting how many fell and how many stand. In The Wind in the Willows the animals and people of the old world play skittles in inns. Phrase: «Life is not all beer and skittles» (UK, old) means life is not all fun.

Examples

• We set up nine skittles at the end of the hall. tree →
• Sam knocked down six skittles with one ball. tree →
• Let's play skittles in the garden! tree →
• The bowling ball scattered the skittles. tree →
• The wind knocked the bins over like skittles. tree →
• Life isn't all beer and skittles, said Grandad. tree →

Note

Countable noun; the game «skittles» takes a singular verb: «Skittles is fun.» In maths: if there are 9 skittles and 6 fall, 9 − 6 = 3 are left standing. «Skittles» is also a brand of sweets; that is a name.