Definition of 8 ball

Chiefly American: The cushion on the foot rail. Compare top cushion; contrast head cushion.

Also (chiefly British) programme. Short for shot program. The enumerated trick shots that must be performed in the fields of artistic billiards (70 pre-determined shots) and artistic pool (56 tricks in 8 "disciplines").

Similar to run out, but more specific to making all required shots from the start of a rack. Also known as also break and run or break and dish.

A bank shot that follows a Z shaped pattern as it bounces off of two rails.

The surface of the table used for play (often made with slate).

New Zealand Billiards and Snooker Association.

Confederation Panamerica of Billiards

An instance of contact between balls, usually used in the context of describing an object ball contacting another object ball (e.g. "the two ball kissed off the twelve ball"), or in snooker the cue ball making contact with a ball after the initial contact with the object ball. If the player's intention was to cause two object balls to kiss (e.g. to pocket a shot ball after a ricochet off a stationary one), it is often called a kiss shot.

Term for object balls in the game of Chicago that are each assigned as having a set money value; typically the 5, 8, 10, 13 and 15. In games where multiple balls must be pocketed in succession to score a point, such as cribbage pool or thirty-ball, when the last ball necessary to score has been potted, the points given is referred to as a way.

Also lows, low, low ones. In eight-ball, to be shooting the solid suit (group) of balls (1 through 7); "you're low, remember", "you're low balls" or "I've got the lows." Compare solids, reds, little, spots, dots, unders; contrast high.

Any ball that may be legally struck by the cue ball.

The pocket chosen to house the selected ball in your called shot.

In snooker, any of the three colour balls that get spotted on the baulk line: the yellow, green or brown ball.

This is English that turns into reverse English after contact with the object ball. This will close up the angle on a bank.

This refers to the distance of deflection that the ball comes off of the cue stick after a hit is applied with side spin on it.

Artistic pool is a trick shot competition, inspired by the related discipline of artistic billiards.

Side spin on the cue ball that causes it to roll off a cushion (contacted at an angle) with rather than against the ball's natural momentum and direction of travel. If angling into a rail that is on the right, then running english would be left english, and vice versa. The angle of deflection will be wider than if no english were applied to the cue ball. But more importantly, because the ball is rolling instead of sliding against the rail, the angle will be more consistent. For this reason, running English is routinely used. Also called running side in British terminology. Contrast reverse english.

This is the way your hand is configured to support the shaft of the cue during a shot.

Slang for the cue ball.

The ornamentation on a cue is often made by inlaying exotic materials into the wood of the butt portion of the cue. Inlays of ebony and ivory are quite common. The value of a cue is often based on the number inlays.

A shot in which if the target is missed, the opponent is safe or will not have a desirable shot;
A shot in which there are two ways to score;
A shot in which a second ball is targeted to be pocketed, broken out of a cluster, repositioned or some other secondary goal is also intended.

The precise center of the pool table.

The first shot in a game - aimed at a set of racked balls.
To execute the first shot in a new game.
In snooker this term can be use to indicate a series of successive shots completed by a single player.

This describes a shot in carom games where the cue ball is driven all the way across the long rail, crossing the table, to score a point.