(functioning as singular) a US and Canadian name for tenpin bowling
tenpins in American English
(ˈtɛnˌpɪnz)
noun
the game of bowling in which ten pins are used
tenpins in American English
(ˈtenˌpɪnz)
noun
1. (used with a sing v)
a form of bowling, played with ten wooden pins at which a ball is bowled to knock them down
2. See tenpin
Word origin
[1590–1600; ten + pin + -s3]This word is first recorded in the period 1590–1600. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: attack, class, investment, squeeze, tea-s an ending marking nouns as plural (boys; wolves), occurring also on nouns that have no singular (dregs; entrails; pants; scissors), or on nouns that have a singular with a different meaning (clothes; glasses; manners; thanks). The pluralizing value of -s is weakened or lost in a number of nouns that now often take singular agreement,as the names of games (billiards; checkers; tiddlywinks) and of diseases (measles; mumps; pox; rickets); the latter use has been extended to create informal names for a variety of involuntaryconditions, physical or mental (collywobbles; giggles; hots; willies). A parallel set of formations, where -s has no plural value, are adjectives denoting socially unacceptable or inconvenientstates (bananas; bonkers; crackers; nuts; preggers; starkers)