COL49 carom

[Jeremy Osner]

jbor wrote:
> carom n. U.S. 1. n. a cannon at billiards  2. v.i. make carom; strike and
> rebound off (abbr. of *carambole* fr. Sp *carambola*, a sour greenish fruit,
> from Portuguese, from Marathi *karambal*)
> 
> A cannon in billiards, I believe, is the shot in which the cue ball is
> caused to contact one object ball after another. 

There is also a game, at least here in the US, called "Caroms";
it is a large flat piece of wood with corner pockets, on which
surface are a number of red and black disks and a white disk.
Object of the game is, using cue sticks to strike the white disk,
to sink all the disks of one color before your opponent sinks all
the disks of the other color. Poor man's billiards, in that the
equipment needed to play is much easier and less expensive to
assemble and maintain than is a pool table. Plus it's portable!