bed

en-noun

bed (countable and uncountable, plural beds)

→ Chichewa: bedi

→ Chuukese: pet

→ Esperanto: bedo

→ Japanese: ベッド (beddo)

African-American Vernacular, some speakers

Inherited from Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian baad, beed, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Low German Bedd, Dutch bed, German Bett, Swedish bädd, Icelandic beður, all meaning “bed”.
further possible etymology and cognates
The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning. If it is, the term is also cognate with Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros, “pit”), Latin fossa (“ditch”), Latvian bedre (“hole”), Welsh bedd (“grave”), Breton bez (“grave”); and probably also Russian бодать (bodatʹ, “to butt, gore”).

bed

flat surface or layer on which something else is to be placed

A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.

(darts) Any of the sections of a dartboard with a point value, delimited by a wire.


arrow

From Middle English arwe, from Old English earh (oblique form ēarw-), from Proto-West Germanic *arhu, from Proto-Germanic *arhwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂érkʷo- (“bow, arrow”). Cognate with Faroese ørv (“arrow”), Icelandic ör (“arrow”), örvar (“arrows”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌽𐌰 (arƕazna, “dart”), Latin arcus (“bow”).

der

The second arrow flew through the air in a drunken parabolic curve and nestled just below the previous dart. Twenty!
“Good arrows!” came from all around the room. Total silence came from the opposition corner.

2014, John Eaton, It's Gonna Rain All Night, page 182:


maximum

(colloquial, darts) A score of 180 with three darts.


shanghai

shanghais (plural)
shanghae (alternative)
shangeye (alternative)

1871, from the important Chinese port Shanghai, as a verb with reference to the former practice by some shippers on the West Coast of the United States of press-ganging crews for fishing or shipping in the Pacific Ocean.

‘Shanghai’ may be played by teams of 8, in pairs, individually, or, in fact, any number.

The hot twenty—including local favourites George Simmons, Tony Brown, Mick Norris and Lew Walker—have to sweat through nineteen 501s, one 1,001, one 2,001, one round-the-board-on-doubles, one shanghai and one halve-it.

(darts, often capitalized) A kind of dart game in which players are gradually eliminated ("shanghaied"), usually either by failing to reach a certain score in 3 quick throws or during a competition to hit a certain prechosen number and then be the first to hit the prechosen numbers of the other players.


hockey

As has been mentioned, Darts of to-day is essentially a "public-house game," and in pretty nearly every inn, club, or institute where it has a footing (and in which has it not!) will be found minor variations in play and often games that are peculiar to the locality or even to the "school" itself. […] And in this domestic circle, at all events, it is thought that this set of Rules will prove a useful guide when taken in conjunction with what has already been said as regards the board, its position, the hockey-line, etc.

1950, Edmond Hoyle, Lawrence H. Dawson, “Darts”, in Hoyle’s Games Modernized, 20th edition, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, →OCLC; republished as The Complete Hoyle’s Games (Wordsworth Reference), Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1994, →ISBN, page 457:

Henry Lewis's body was tense, taut, his toes against the hockey, his right arm raised, his left eye half-closed. With grim intensity, backed by years of practice and experience, he sighted along the steel point, drew his arm back—and let the dart fly.

1977, Harry Harrison, chapter 22, in Skyfall, [London]: Hamlyn Publishing Group, →OCLC:

Small bars would tend to produce short hockeys; the tiny fishing pubs of Yarmouth gave rise to 6ft marks […]

1985, Keith Turner, Darts, 1st Perennial Library edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 22:

(darts, dated) Alternative form of oche.


double

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English double, from Old French doble, double, from Latin duplus (“twofold”). Doublet of doppio and duple.

(darts) The narrow outermost ring on a dartboard.


ton

→ Tokelauan: tone, tane

Variant of tun (“cask”), influenced by Old French tonne (“ton”).

ton

various units of mass notionally equivalent to a tun

(colloquial, chiefly UK) Synonym of hundred, particularly

Synonym of hundred, particularly
100 points.


treble

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English treble, from Old French treble, from Latin triplus. Doublet of triple.

(darts) Any of the narrow areas enclosed by the two central circles on a dartboard, worth three times the usual value of the segment.


bed and breakfast

en-noun

bed and breakfast (plural bed and breakfasts)

bed and breakfasts (plural)
bed-and-breakfast (alternative)
bed & breakfast (alternative)

From the notion that two shillings and sixpence was once the price of lodging and breakfast in an inn.

The language of darts is a combination of hybrid Cockney slang, metaphor and phrases that “stuck” for no apparent reason except they sounded good. […] Bed ’n’ breakfast—the number 26 when scored by hitting a 20, 5, and 1; comes from the price of a bed and breakfast in Olde England which was 2/6d, two shillings and sixpence.

[1978 April, Dan Wheeler, Tom Jansing, “Mugs away!”, in All Hands, page 11:

This can be a lengthy procedure when neither team can do better than ‘bed and breakfast’ (26).

1984, Ivan L. Brackin, William Fitzgerald, Darts, page 72:

(darts) A score of 26, made up of a score of 20, 1 and 5 in any order.


checkout

checkout (countable and uncountable, plural checkouts)

checkouts (plural)
check-out (alternative)

/ˈt͡ʃɛkˌaʊt/

(darts) The number of points that a player scores on their final, winning visit to the oche.


check out

en-verb

check out (third-person singular simple present checks out, present participle checking out, simple past and past participle checked out)

checks out (present singular third-person)
checking out (participle present)
checked out (participle past)
checked out (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-check out.wav

udskrive

to withdraw (an item) from a library etc., and have the withdrawal recorded

(darts) To visit the oche for the last time and clear one's remaining points to win the game.


tops

Scoring 38 more points leaves him with tops for the win.

(darts) The uppermost field of a dartboard; the double-20 field


oche

Possibly from Middle French oche (“notch”), from Old French ocher, ochier (“to make a notch in; to notch”), which, according to Partridge, could be related to French hocher and English nick (“small cut, notch”).

When top players are aiming to maximize their total with three darts, their average score can exceed 100; they also expect to hit the closing double with their first or second attempt. Reaching the target within 15 darts (i.e. five visits to the oche, to slip into the vernacular) is not unusual; […]

2003, John Haigh, “Let’s Play Best of Three”, in Taking Chances: Winning with Probability, new edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 158:

The pièce de résistance was the bar where I had over a dozen dart boards with pop-up oches. It was a massive success.

2008, Eric Bristow, [Paul Carter], “The Milky Bar Kid”, in The Crafty Cockney: Eric Bristow: The Autobiography, London: Century, →ISBN; republished London: Arrow Books, 2010, →ISBN, page 173:

Whether a player is a bullshitter, adept at hitting bullseyes, or a chucker, who throws the darts willy-nilly and hopes for the best, the pull of the oche is the same.

2016, Susie Dent, “Keeping ’Em on the Island: Darters”, in Dent’s Modern Tribes: The Secret Languages of Britain, London: John Murray, →ISBN:

And it's because something of the mundanely manual still adheres to darts that the players' heroic walk of honour from the green room to the oche is so incongruous. The fanfare begins, the strobes go wild, the crowds roar, hostesses wearing the sort of tinsel dresses that drove me crazy when I was eighteen escort the gladiator into the arena, only he's not a gladiator, he's a plumber.

2017, Howard Jacobson, “The Wages of Indulgence is Darts”, in The Dog’s Last Walk (and Other Pieces), London, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(darts) A line behind which a player's front foot must be placed when throwing a dart.


bullseye

bullseyes (plural)
bull's-eye (alternative)
bull's eye (alternative)

→ German: Bullauge (calque)

→ Esperanto: bovokulo (calque)

From bull's + eye. May have come from the practice of English archers shooting an arrow through the eye socket of a bull's skull as a test of skill. The connection to philately comes from the shape of the key plate or vignette.

(darts) The two central rings on a dartboard.

häränsilmä

darts: two central rings of the dartboard


middle for diddle

(darts) The throw of a dart to decide who has first throw in a game darts: nearest the bullseye has first throw.


walk-on girl

/ˌwɔːk ɒn ˈɡɜːl/

/ˌwɔk ɑn ˈɡɝl/

/ˌwɑk ɑn ˈɡɝl/

Again anticipating opportunity, Tommy Cox jets to Alaska and books Sarah Palin to be a walk-on girl at the 2009 Desert Classic final.

2010, Paul Siegel, chapter 7, in 2008: The Year in Darts, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 39:

His then girlfriend, Bernice Grey was a minor model turned darts walk-on girl. Jack's checklist-life could not have got much better compared to his childhood ambitions.

2012, Mark Wollacott, “Blank Jack (Teaser)”, in 108 Breaths, Circencester, Gloustershire: Wyrd Works, →ISBN, page 112:

The rah-rah girls dancing onstage were shaking their thing as Phil wobbled his way down the runway flanked by a Dutch walk-on girl dressed like a Thunderbirds pilot, all enhancements bouncing to the Eurobeat, as the surgeon intended. Then it was Mike's turn. His girl was dressed in a lime-green minidress and fat gold rope chain (subconsciously channelling Run DMC), which wasn't the only plastic on show. Neither walk-on girls I recognise. They must be the continental ones.

2017, King Adz, “Continental Darts”, in Fear and Loathing on the Oche: A Gonzo Journey through the World of Championship Darts, London: Yellow Jersey Press, →ISBN:

Flanked by a minder and a walk-on girl he strode down the walkway, hands in prayer, eyes turned heavenward.

2017, Matthew E. Pointon, “Holy Mass”, in Short Stories Volume 2 (2006–2010), [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu, →ISBN, page 179:

Walk-on girls will no longer be used by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) after talks with broadcasters. The long-established practice of women escorting male players to the stage will be abandoned, starting with this weekend's Masters in Milton Keynes. […] But walk-on girl Charlotte Wood, who says darts accounts for 60 per cent of her income, says her rights "are being taken away". […] The Women's Sport Trust tweeted: "We applaud the Professional Darts Corporation moving with the times and deciding to no longer use walk-on-girls. Motor racing, boxing and cycling … your move."

2018 January 27, “Darts: PDC to Scrap Walk-on Girls after Broadcaster Talks”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2018-06-21:

(darts) A woman who escorts a player to the stage at a darts event.


nine-darter

(darts) The scoring of 501 points with only nine darts, regarded as a perfect game.


bull up

bull up (third-person singular simple present bulls up, present participle bulling up, simple past and past participle bulled up)

bulls up (present singular third-person)
bulling up (participle present)
bulled up (participle past)
bulled up (past)

(darts) To throw darts, aiming at a bullseye, to determine who goes first in a match.