Meanings
alternative chemin-de-fer
- uncountableA card game, a variation of baccarat.
“Come on,” Kit motioning her with his head over to a chemin-de-fer table
2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, pages 603–42 more examples
Bond had spent the last two afternoons and most of the nights at the Casino, playing complicated progression systems on the even chances at roulette. He made a high banco at chemin-de-fer whenever he heard one offered.
1953, Ian Fleming, chapter 4, in Casino Royale, page 23The person who left at 1:00 is either Alice or the woman who played chemin de fer (9), so in either case she is a woman.
2005, Mark Zegarelli, Poker Logic Puzzles, →ISBN, page 73
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna card game played in casinos in which two or more punters gamble against the banker; the player wins who holds 2 or 3 cards that total closest to nine
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchchemin de fer
- Englishchemin de fer
Borrowed from French chemin de fer (literally “railway”), from being a faster variant of baccarat.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
chemin de fer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chemin%20de%20fer
“chemin de fer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chemin%20de%20fer. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chemin de fer,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chemin%20de%20fer.
Source: chemin de fer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.