carom

plural caroms · alternative carrom

1. countableball gamesA shot in which the ball struck with the cue comes in contact with two or more balls on the table; a hitting of two or more balls with the player's ball.

   Synonyms: cannon

2. uncountableA billiard-like Indian game in which players take turns flicking checker-like pieces into one of four goals on the corners of a board measuring one meter by one meter.

   He loved playing carom in his free time.

present singular third person caroms · participle present caroming · participle past caromed · past caromed · alternative carrom

1. intransitiveTo make a carom (shot in billiards).
2. To strike and bounce back; to strike (something) and rebound.

   Snow filled her mouth. She caromed off things she never saw, tumbling through a cluttered canyon like a steel marble falling through pins in a pachinko machine.

   2012 December 26, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2013

   2 more examples

   [T]he grubit bombs went rolling back and forth over our feet, fetching up against the sides of the car with a crash. The big Red Guard, whose name was Vladimir Nicolaievitch, plied me with questions about America […] while we held on to each other and danced amid the caroming bombs.

   1922, John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World

   His head hit the side of the iron banisters and then, a twisting wheel of arms and legs, he disappeared over the edge, down into the well. There was a short crash as he caromed off some obstacle, then a pause, then a mingled thud and crack as he hit the ground. Then silence.

   1954, Ian Fleming, “No Sensayuma”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 79

alternative carrom

1. uncountableAjwain.