Billiards Vault

Definition of Free wheeling

Also known as Free-stroking. This is slang for when a player begins to play untroubled and relaxed because they have built up a substantial lead.

24 Random Essential Billiards Terms

A specific way of holding the shaft in your hand. The closed hand bridge is a hand bridge where the index finger wraps over the cue stick for control.
The 'Lady Jane Grey' is a rarely used term to describe a shot in the game of snooker. The cue ball is baulk side of the spotted black after potting a red ball. The black is powerfully potted into a top corner pocket and the cue ball bounces off the top cushion into the red balls, moving them into space, thus allowing the continuation of a break. Named after Lady Jane Grey, the 16th Century Queen of England, possibly because the speed the cue ball must be hit matches the speed with which she was deposed from the throne.
This is to watch a match with such intensity that there is worry, usually because of a wager on the game.
Used when describing perfect cue ball position play.
A three cushion billiards shot in which the cue ball first strikes two cushions before hitting the first object ball then hits a third cushion before hitting the second object ball. So called because the shot opens up like an umbrella after hitting the third rail. Umbrella shots may be classified as inside or outside depending on which side of the first object ball the cue ball contacts.
The surface of the table used for play (often made with slate).
This is the point on the object ball where the cue exactly impacts or the point at which two balls touch when they impact.
This is a table that offers poor conditions for play; it is either dirty, wet, or overall poor quality.
Two or more object balls that are touching or are close together.
This is when a ball is spotted because of a foul or a handicap.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, founded in 1968 and based in Bristol, England, United Kingdom is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards. It sets the sports' rules, organises tournaments and the pro-am and pro tours, and engages in various promotional activities.
A predetermined number of games, usually played for a specified sum of money. Contrast race (a predetermined number of wins). Informally, sets may refer to gambling more generally, as in "I've been playing sets all day", even when the format is actually races or single games.
Artistic pool is a trick shot competition, inspired by the related discipline of artistic billiards.
In snooker, any of the three colour balls that get spotted on the baulk line: the yellow, green or brown ball.
Slang for the cue ball.
Linen made from flax and produced in Ireland which is often used to wrap the gripping area of the butt of a cue.
With draw, as in "I shot that low left", meaning "I shot that with draw and with left english". Derives from the fact that one must hit the cue ball below it's equator, i.e. "low" on the ball, to impart draw. Contrast high.
To bungle a shot in a manner that leaves the table in such a fortuitous position for the opponent that there is a strong likelihood of losing the game or match. Contrast sell out.

An attempt of a legal clean shot (not a slop shot) that goes badly wrong due to improper stroke, stance, table position or table conditions in which the result of the shot is completely unexpected and not what was predicted at all.

A (principally American) term in eight-ball for either of the set of seven balls (stripes or solids) that must be cleared before sinking the 8 ball. Borrowed from card games. Generally used in the generic, especially in rulesets or articles, rather than colloquially by players. See also group for the British equivalent.
This the area behind the pocket points before the pocket. The ball can get behind here and rest waiting to be pocketed, or the cue ball can get corner hooked in this location. Different tables feature a smaller or larger area here which can make these situations more or less achievable.
The white ball struck by the cue (and so used to strike other colored, numbered, object balls) during play.
This refers to a ball that is positioned close to a rail, offering a shot where the cue must hit the rail and the ball almost simultaneously, this position can also offer a defensive shot where the cue ball can be hidden between that object ball and the rail.
A natural is an easy shot requiring no side spin. A shot is said to be natural if it does not require adjustments, such as a cut angle, side spin, or unusual force. A natural bank shot, for example, is one in which simply shooting straight into the object ball at medium speed and with no spin will send the object ball directly into the target pocket on the other side of the table.