Carromed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have hit an object and subsequently changed direction after bouncing away from it
2. To strike against a surface and then move away from that point in a new trajectory
3. To bounce off an object, altering the path after impact ; To strike something and then veer off in another direction following the collision

Etymology: "Carromed" is the past tense and past participle of "carrom," so its history is that of the verb it belongs to. "Carrom" is the name of a game and also a verb meaning to strike a object and rebound off it, and the sense of ricocheting off a surface comes first from the game's own play, in which a disc is struck so that it bounces off the sides of the board or hits another piece. The game itself takes its name from Spanish "carambola," a word for a shot in billiards where the cue ball strikes two other balls, and the English form came in through the game's Spanish-speaking origins in the Americas. Because the word was tied to a specific cushioned, billiard-like contact, it carried the idea of a deflection from one object to another, and the verb grew from that physical image.

Synonyms: ricocheted, bounced, rebounded