| TERM |
DESCRIPTION
|
| Ball in hand |
The freedom to place the ball anywhere on the
table, or sometimes in a restricted area |
| Baulk Cushion |
The end rail farthest from where you rack
(British). Also called the "bottom" cushion. |
| Break |
At pool, the first shot of a game, often a smash
shot which is called an "open break". On an English table, a succession of
scoring shots that would be called a "run" in the US. |
| Double |
Bank shot (British) |
| End rail |
The two shorter cushions at each end of the
table. |
| English |
Spin on the cue ball, especially side spin
("side" in the UK) |
| Ferrule |
That little white thingy just behind the cuetip
:-) In the UK, they use brass for ferrules. |
| Foot spot |
A point marked on the cloth two diamonds from
the foot rail (the end rail where the balls are racked on a pool table), on
the center line of the table. |
| Foul |
An infraction of the rules that generally ends a
player's inning (though it is possible to foul when not shooting). |
| Head spot |
A point two diamonds from the head rail on a
pool table (the end rail that you break from), in the center of the table. |
| Inning |
A turn at the table, usually ending in a miss,
foul or win. |
| In The Kitchen |
Same as "ball in hand" but requires the cue ball
to be behind the head string. |
| Kick shot |
At pool, a shot where the cue ball hits a rail
first, commonly as a return of safety. |
| Kitchen |
Area behind the head string. |
| Lagging |
A way to determine who shoots first. Each player
puts a ball behind the head string and banks it off the foot rail. The
player whose ball stops closer to the head rail has choice of shooting first
or second. (Stringing" in the U.K.) |
| Pot |
To pocket a ball without a foul (British) |
| Safety |
A shot intended to leave nothing for the
opponent. |
| Scratch |
Cue ball into a pocket, off the table, or
sometimes any foul |
| Screw |
Back spin in the UK ("draw" in the US) |
| Squirt |
A cue ball hit with side spin does not start out
parallel to the axis of the cue stick, but instead moves slightly away from
that by an angle up to four degrees, depending on the stick and the spin. No
one understands exactly why this happens. In general, it happens more with a
"pro taper" (cylindrical) shaft compared to a "carom" (conical) shaft, and
more with a larger tip than a smaller. It is also called "deflection", but
since there are many different deflections in pool and billiards, and
because this phenomenon is critical to playing well with side spin, it gets
its own name. |
| Swerve |
A cue ball hit with side spin and an (even
slightly) elevated cue stick will curve in the direction of the applied
English. Elevate
more and it's masse. |
| Throw |
The divergence of an object ball from the line
through the centers of it and the impacting ball. Throw is induced by the
friction between the two balls and the relative motion of their surfaces. |
