Shovelboard

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A game played on a long smooth table where players slide discs toward scoring zones at the far end ; the long polished table on which this game is played
2. A pastime in which weighted discs are propelled across a board toward target areas ; the flat, smooth table that serves as the playing surface
3. A table game of pushing discs along a polished surface to land them in numbered sections ; the elongated wooden table on which the discs are slid

Etymology: Shovelboard is simply another spelling of shuffleboard, and the game's name describes what players do: they shove heavy discs along a smooth board. The older form of the name, "shovillaborde," was an alteration of "shove-board," built from the verb "shove" and the noun "board." Over time the spelling drifted toward "shovel," a tool for moving material, even though the game involves pushing rather than digging. The later "shuffle" form appears to have come from the same drift, as speakers reshaped an unfamiliar compound into a familiar-sounding one. The pattern is common in English, where obscure words get reworked into forms that seem to make sense. Here the result is a name that suggests a shovel, a shuffle, and a shove all at once, though only the shove is literal.

Synonyms: shuffleboard