domino English · revision 1206

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈdɒmɪnəʊ/ ''(UK)''; /ˈdɑməˌnoʊ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|domino]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) The game sense is probably an extended use of ''domino'' as the name of a hooded cloak,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(RHWU) perhaps from the black backs of the pieces^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) or the likeness of the dots to the eyeholes of a mask.^(AHD) The cloak was apparently named from [[la|dominus|t=lord, master]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) perhaps from the ritual formula ''benedicamus Domino'' “let us bless the Lord”,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) though the connection is not clear.^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A hood with a cloak worn by priests or canons, and a mourning veil worn by women (1694).^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1719 the word named a loose cloak with a small mask worn at masquerades,^(OED 1989) and later the mask itself or its wearer.^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) The game pieces were called dominoes in French by 1771 and in English from 1801.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In 1953 President Eisenhower used falling dominoes as an image for countries yielding one after another, the origin of the ''domino theory''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1694 – a priest's hooded cloak; a mourning veil.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1719 – a masquerade cloak and mask.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1749 – a person wearing a domino.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1801 – a game piece; the game of dominoes.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1953 – the image behind the domino theory.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small, flat, rectangular block whose face is divided into two halves, each blank or marked with one to six dots like those of [[dice]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' A game played with a set of usually 28 such pieces.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(OED 1989)

+ # A loose hooded cloak worn with a half [[mask]] at a [[masquerade]]; also the mask, or a person wearing the costume.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A country expected to fall to a political change after its neighbour does, as in the ''domino theory''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[domino effect]]

+ * [[domino theory]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dominate]]

+ * [[dominion]]

+ * [[domine]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}