ambigu

Noun

ambigu (countable and uncountable, plural ambigus)

1. (countable, dated) An entertainment at which a medley of dishes is set on at the same time; a buffet.
   • When straiten'd in your time, and servants few, You'd richly then compose an ambigu; Where first and second course, and your desert, All in one single table have their part.1708, William King, Art of Cookery
   • "Carry this to Sister Clarisse,” she said, "and bid her prepare an ambigu for neighbour Prudent in the almonry.” The schoolmaster's face shone. An ambigu, in other words, meat, vegetables, dessert, served at once generally in one large dish, made up for scanty fare days before and after.1898, Matilda Betham-Edwards, A Storm-rent Sky: Scenes of Love and Revolution, page 46
2. (uncountable) A French card game, somewhat like poker, but of earlier origin and involving different scoring of hands, played with a 40 card deck (four suits of Ace through 10).
   • In France during the following century primero became ambigu, and a little later another variation, called brag, sprang up in the west of England, from which poker is more directly descended in its American form.1916, New International Encyclopedia - Volume 18, page 773
   • Others include the French games of ambigu, bouillotte, and brelan, the English games of brag and post-and-pair, and the Italian game of primiera.2010, Stewart N. Ethier, The Doctrine of Chances: Probabilistic Aspects of Gambling, page 731