baize
/beɪz
/noun [mass noun]
A coarse felt-like woollen material that is typically green, used for covering billiard and card tables and for aprons: [as modifier]: a baize apron...
- The man moved off and Adam stepped through a further doorway and followed him through a maze of green baize covered card tables.
- A pack of cards appeared and, before anybody could protest, my father's folding card table with the green baize top had been set up.
- In terms of his temperament, Advani is very different from Agarwal and it is because of this, lovers of the green baize sport would be confident that this young man will go on to become India's first great professional snooker player.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French baies, feminine plural of bai 'chestnut-coloured' (see bay4), treated as a singular noun. The name is presumably from the original colour of the cloth, although several colours are recorded.
Despite being generally green in colour today, baize, a material used for covering billiard tables, is from the French word bai ‘chestnut-coloured’, presumably from the original colour of the cloth. Bai is also the root of the English word bay (Middle English), used to describe a brown horse with black mane and tail.