Word.ws English Dictionary

jeu de paume

jeu de paume noun: a precursor of lawn tennis, originally played by hitting the ball with the palm of the hand instead of with a racquet.

Noun

jeu de paume (uncountable)

  1. A precursor of lawn tennis, originally played by hitting the ball with the palm of the hand instead of with a racquet.
    • Although court tennis was at first played by hand (jeu de paume), the form of the game and the shape of the court were developed during the 12th and 13th centuries to a point differing little from the modern game.1951, Alexander Hopkins McDonnald, The Encyclopedia Americana - Volume 3, page 95
    • Clerici reports on two types of jeu de paume that were associated with the Church during the Middle Ages.1983, Journal of Basque Studies - Volume 4, Issue 2, page 82
  2. The type of court where this game was played.
    • A jeu de paume court with game in progress.1988, Robert Cohen, Theatre, page 206
    • The more superficial beholder of the book's cover (a magnificent piece of artistry by the Venetian painter Gabriel Bella) will have failed to notice, on its continuation overleaf, the employee of an ancient jeu de paume who, having scaled the slanting roof of the gallery, is busily retrieving from...1998, Heiner Gillmeister, Tennis:Cultural History, page xi

Examples of jeu de paume in a sentence

  • At Amboise on the eve of Palm Sunday, 1498, while on his way to watch the jeu de paume being played in the castle ditch, he struck his head on a low lintel.2003, John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice:
  • Hardy's games were cricket, about which he was passionate, and real tennis (a.k.a. court tennis or jeu de paume), a more difficult, more intellectually challenging game than ordinary tennis.2003, John Derbyshire, Prime Obsession:
  • For centuries le jeu de paume (known as “real tennis” in Britain), a precursor to our modern-day tennis, was the exclusive cultural and social property of France's nobility.2008, Corry Cropper, Playing at Monarchy: Sport As Metaphor in Nineteenth-century France:
  • Tuileries, on the Rue de Rivoli side, was once used for jeu de paume (or “palm game,” a forerunner of tennis).2012, Fodor's France 2012:

Origin of jeu de paume

Borrowed from French jeu de paume (“game of the palm”).

Questions about jeu de paume

What does jeu de paume mean?
Jeu de paume means a precursor of lawn tennis, originally played by hitting the ball with the palm of the hand instead of with a racquet.
How do you use jeu de paume in a sentence?
At Amboise on the eve of Palm Sunday, 1498, while on his way to watch the jeu de paume being played in the castle ditch, he struck his head on a low lintel.
What part of speech is jeu de paume?
Jeu de paume is a noun.

Words near jeu de paume in the dictionary

  1. Jetway Jesus
  2. jetways
  3. jeté
  4. jetés
  5. jeu d'esprit
  6. jeu de paume
  7. jeu de taquin
  8. jeu de taquin equivalent
  9. jeu de taquin slide
  10. jeu de taquin slides
  11. Jeudy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jeu de paume (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.

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