domino
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: dŏ'mĭnō
ipa: /ˈdɒmɪnəʊ/
enpr: dämĭnō
ipa: /ˈdɑmɪnoʊ/
Forms: form: dominos
form: dominoes
Etymology: 1801, borrowed from French domino (1771), originally the term for a hooded garment, itself from Medieval Latin domino, oblique case of dominus (“lord, master”); compare Medieval Latin dominicale (“a kind of veil”).
Senses: examples: text: Dominoes of indiscretions down
Falling all around, in cycles, in circles
Constantly consuming
Conquer and devour
ref: 2000, “The Hollow”, performed by A Perfect Circle:
text: The Mormon church's past anti-gay positions and its role in financing Proposition 8 – California's 2008 ban on same-sex marriage – may have been the first dominoes to fall around the faithful, but vetting Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate links the straightforward similarities between Mormonophobia and homophobia.
ref: 2012 July 11, Tony Plakas, “Mitt's Mormon marriage march”, in Sun-Sentinel:
topics: dominoes
games
glosses: A tile divided into two squares, each having 0 to 6 (or sometimes more) dots or pips (as in dice), used in the game of dominoes.
topics: government
politics
glosses: A country that is expected to react to events in a neighboring country, according to the domino effect.
examples: text: all the women were desirous of having the bundle immediately opened; which operation was at length performed by little Betsy, with the consent of Mr Jones: and the contents were found to be a domino, a mask, and a masquerade ticket.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 485:
text: The chair being announced, she fastened on her mask, and drew her domino round her, it not being her intention to display her splendid and fantastic costume till supper, when all the guests were expected to unmask.
ref: 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Masked Ball”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 175:
text: For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.
ref: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
text: Then he hunted for the black carnival domino, supposing that it was the appropriate thing for a penitent to wear.
ref: 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1007:
synonyms: domino costume
glosses: A masquerade costume consisting of a hooded robe and a mask covering the upper part of the face.
examples: text: He wore a domino, but beneath it could be seen his whiskers, cut after the English fashion, and long and pendent.
ref: 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:
synonyms: domino mask
half mask
eyemask
glosses: The mask itself.
glosses: The person wearing the costume.
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
synonyms: 2-omino
glosses: A polyomino made up of two squares.
examples: text: Any player is liable to make a 'domino' — that is to say, he goes wool-gathering and continues to play when everyone else has stopped. If he does so at a grown-up concert the fault is irredeemable […]
ref: 1932, The Musical Times and Singing-class Circular, page 263:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A mistake in performing.
examples: text: […] break your dominoes by grinding them that way.
ref: 1892, Eugène Sue, The Mysteries of Paris, page 182:
text: Look here, you chaps, don't you chew it too quick, or you'll break your dominoes on the nails!
ref: 1965, Henri Barbusse (tr. W. Fitzwater Wray), Under Fire (page 20)
glosses: A person's teeth.
Derived terms: domino computer
domino effect
dominoes
Dominoid
dominolike
domino surgery
domino theory
domino whist
galloping domino
polyomino
triomino
Related terms: dominate