Word.ws English Dictionary

bowling

UK/ˈbəʊlɪŋ/US/ˈboʊlɪŋ/

bowling is the present participle and gerund of bowl.

Noun

bowling (uncountable)

  1. A game played by rolling a ball down an alley and trying to knock over a triangular group of ten pins; tenpin bowling/fivepin bowling
  2. (New-England) Candlepin bowling.
  3. Any of several similar games played indoors or outdoors.
  4. The action of propelling the ball towards the batsman.
  5. (slang) A particular style of walking associated with urban street culture.
  6. (gerund) The action of the verb bowl.
  7. (Ireland) Road bowling.

Meaning of bowl

Verb

bowl (third-person singular simple present bowls, present participle bowling, simple past and past participle bowled)

  1. (transitive) To roll or throw (a ball) in the correct manner in cricket and similar games and sports.
    • Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, / And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  2. (intransitive) To throw the ball (in cricket and similar games and sports).
  3. (intransitive) To play bowling or a similar game.
  4. To roll or carry smoothly on, or as on, wheels.
    • We were bowled rapidly along the road.
  5. To pelt or strike with anything rolled.
    • Alas, I had rather be set quick i' the earth, / And bowled to death with turnips.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

See all 29 meanings of bowl

Proper noun capitalized: Bowling

Bowling (countable and uncountable, plural Bowlings)

  1. A surname.
  2. A village on the Clyde in West Dunbartonshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NS4473).
  3. A suburban area in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE1731).
  4. An unincorporated community in Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States.

Forms of bowling

pluralBowlings
alternative formBoling

Words formed from bowling

Phrases with bowling

7 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with bowling

Questions about bowling

What does bowling mean?
Bowling means a game played by rolling a ball down an alley and trying to knock over a triangular group of ten pins; tenpin bowling/fivepin bowling.
What is bowling the present participle and gerund of?
Bowling is the present participle and gerund of bowl.
What part of speech is bowling?
Bowling can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bowling?
Bowling is pronounced /ˈbəʊlɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near bowling in the dictionary

  1. Bowlin
  2. bowlin'
  3. bowline
  4. bowlined
  5. bowlines
  6. bowling
  7. bowling a googly
  8. bowling alley
  9. Bowling Alley Point
  10. bowling alleys
  11. bowling alone thesis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bowling (page history and authors); Bowling (page history and authors); bowl (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-ca-bowling.ogg, en-au-bowling.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bowling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bowling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.