domino

1801, borrowed from French domino (1771), originally the term for a hooded garment, itself from Medieval Latin domino, oblique case of dominus (“lord, master”); compare Medieval Latin dominicale (“a kind of veil”).

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: dŏ'mĭnō, IPA^(key): /ˈdɒmɪnəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) enPR: dämĭnō, IPA^(key): /ˈdɑmɪnoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

domino (plural dominos or dominoes)

1. (dominoes) A tile divided into two squares, each having 0 to 6 (or sometimes more) dots or pips (as in dice), used in the game of dominoes. [from c. 1800]
   • 2000, “The Hollow”, performed by A Perfect Circle:

     Dominoes of indiscretions down
     Falling all around, in cycles, in circles
     Constantly consuming
     Conquer and devour

   • 2012 July 11, Tony Plakas, “Mitt's Mormon marriage march”, in Sun-Sentinel‎^[1]:

     The Mormon church's past anti-gay positions and its role in financing Proposition 8 – California's 2008 ban on same-sex marriage – may have been the first dominoes to fall around the faithful, but vetting Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate links the straightforward similarities between Mormonophobia and homophobia.

2. (politics) A country that is expected to react to events in a neighboring country, according to the domino effect.
3. A masquerade costume consisting of a hooded robe and a mask covering the upper part of the face.

   Synonym: domino costume

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 485:

     all the women were desirous of having the bundle immediately opened; which operation was at length performed by little Betsy, with the consent of Mr Jones: and the contents were found to be a domino, a mask, and a masquerade ticket.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Masked Ball”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 175:

     The chair being announced, she fastened on her mask, and drew her domino round her, it not being her intention to display her splendid and fantastic costume till supper, when all the guests were expected to unmask.

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.

   • 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1007:

     Then he hunted for the black carnival domino, supposing that it was the appropriate thing for a penitent to wear.

4. The mask itself.

   Synonyms: domino mask, half mask, eyemask

   • 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram‎^[2], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:

     He wore a domino, but beneath it could be seen his whiskers, cut after the English fashion, and long and pendent.

5. The person wearing the costume.
6. (geometry) A polyomino made up of two squares.

   Synonym: 2-omino

7. (music, colloquial) A mistake in performing.
   • 1932, The Musical Times and Singing-class Circular, page 263:

     Any player is liable to make a 'domino' — that is to say, he goes wool-gathering and continues to play when everyone else has stopped. If he does so at a grown-up concert the fault is irredeemable […]

8. (slang, in the plural) A person's teeth.
   • 1892, Eugène Sue, The Mysteries of Paris, page 182:

     […] break your dominoes by grinding them that way.

   • 1965, Henri Barbusse (tr. W. Fitzwater Wray), Under Fire (page 20)

     Look here, you chaps, don't you chew it too quick, or you'll break your dominoes on the nails!

• dominate

n squares	name
1 squares	monomino
2 squares
3 squares	tromino or triomino
4 squares	tetromino
5 squares	pentomino
6 squares	hexomino
7 squares	heptomino
8 squares	octomino
9 squares	nonomino or enneomino
10 squares	decomino
11 squares	undecomino
12 squares	dodecomino
n squares	n-omino
unspecified number squares	polyomino

domino (third-person singular simple present dominoes, present participle dominoing, simple past and past participle dominoed)

1. (intransitive) To collapse in the manner of dominoes.
   • 2010, Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey, →ISBN, page 107:

     A dismasting often means the dominoing of one mast into the other, down through the decks, cannoning the cargo through the hull below, and sinking the ship very quickly.

2. (transitive) To cause to collapse in the manner of dominoes.

• “domino”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “domino”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• monoid

domino

1. first-person singular present indicative of dominar

• IPA^(key): [ˈdomɪno]
• Rhymes: -ɪno

domino n

1. dominoes

• “domino”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “domino”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

From French domino.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdomino/, [ˈdo̞mino̞]
• Rhymes: -omino
• Syllabification^(key): do‧mi‧no
• Hyphenation^(key): do‧mi‧no

domino

1. (dominoes) dominoes
2. (dominoes) a domino (tile)

• “domino”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• moodin

Borrowed from Medieval Latin dominō, from Latin dominus (“lord, master”), perhaps from a prayer formula such as "benedicamus domino". The development of the modern meaning is unclear, perhaps from the black color of the early domino tiles.

• Audio:

  (file)

domino m (plural dominos)

1. black hooded cloak worn by priests in winter [1401]
2. hooded garment worn at balls [1665]
   • 1941 "Suzanne ramena sur sa tête le capuchon du domino, fit un pas et déclama soudain [...]" (Georges Duhamel, Suzanne et les jeunes hommes, p. 144)
3. a paper marked with figures used to play board games [1514]
4. dominoes [1771]
5. (in the plural) a domino set
6. (in the singular) a domino tile

• effet domino

• “domino”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From French domino.

• IPA^(key): /domino/

domino

1. dominoes

Borrowed from English domino, from French domino, originally the term for a hooded garment, itself from Medieval Latin domino, oblique case of dominus (“lord, master”).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /doˈmino/ [doˈmi.no]
• Rhymes: -ino
• Syllabification: do‧mi‧no

domino (plural domino-domino)

1. dominoes: any of several games played by arranging domino tiles on a flat surface
2. (dominoes) domino: a tile divided into two squares, each having 0 to 6 (or sometimes more) dots or pips (as in dice), used in the game of dominoes

• dom (apocopic form)

• “domino” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Borrowed from Latin dominus. Doublet of don.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.mi.no/
• Rhymes: -ɔmino
• Hyphenation: dò‧mi‧no

domino m (plural domini, feminine domina)

1. (archaic) lord, master

Borrowed from French domino, from Medieval Latin dominō, dative of Latin dominus (“lord, master”); possibly from the liturgical phrase benedīcāmus Dominō (literally “let us bless the Lord”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.mi.no/
• Rhymes: -ɔmino
• Hyphenation: dò‧mi‧no

domino m (invariable)

1. long robe shaped as a cloak with a hood, worn at masked balls
2. (by extension) person wearing such a robe

Borrowed from French domino, originally the same as Etymology 2; see above.^[2]

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.mi.no/
• Rhymes: -ɔmino
• Hyphenation: dò‧mi‧no

domino m (uncountable)

1. dominoes (board game)

• IPA^(key): /ˈdo.mi.no/, /ˈdɔ.mi.no/^[3]
• Rhymes: -omino, -ɔmino
• Hyphenation: dó‧mi‧no, dò‧mi‧no

domino

1. inflection of domare:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.mi.no/
• Rhymes: -ɔmino
• Hyphenation: dò‧mi‧no

domino

1. first-person singular present indicative of dominare

• indomo

domino

1. Rōmaji transcription of ドミノ

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈdɔ.mɪ.noː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈd̪ɔː.mi.no]

dominō (present infinitive domināre, perfect active domināvī, supine dominātum); first conjugation

1. (rare) alternative form of dominor (“rule, control”)

   Synonyms: devinco, supero, conquesto, subigo, vinco, profligo, caedo, pello, domo

dominō

1. dative/ablative singular of dominus

• domino in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2025), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• “domino”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "domino", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

From French domino, from Latin dominus.

domino m (definite singular dominoen, indefinite plural dominoer, definite plural dominoene)

1. dominoes (game)
2. a domino (cloak)

• dominobrikke

• “domino” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “domino_1” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “domino_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From French domino, from Latin dominus.

domino m (definite singular dominoen, indefinite plural dominoar, definite plural dominoane)

1. dominoes (game)
2. a domino (cloak)

• dominobrikke

• “domino” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /dɔˈmi.nɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -inɔ
• Syllabification: do‧mi‧no

Borrowed from French domino.

domino n (related adjective dominowy)

2. (dominoes) dominoes (any of several games played by arranging domino tiles on a flat surface)

domino n

2. domino costume (loose hooded cloak worn with a half mask, worn especially at masquerades)

   Hypernym: płaszcz

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

domino f

1. vocative singular of domina

• domino in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• domino in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• domino in PWN's encyclopedia

domino

1. first-person singular present indicative of dominar

Borrowed from French domino.

domino n (plural dominouri)

1. domino

domino

1. first-person singular present indicative of dominar

domino n (uncountable)

1. dominoes; a type of game

Borrowed from Spanish dominó, from French domino, from Medieval Latin domino, oblique case of dominus (“lord, master”).

• (Standard Tagalog)
  • IPA^(key): /domiˈno/ [d̪o.mɪˈn̪o]
    • Rhymes: -o
  • IPA^(key): /ˈdomino/ [ˌd̪oː.mɪˈn̪o] (Latin or English influence)
    • Rhymes: -omino
• Syllabification: do‧mi‧no

dominó or dóminó (Baybayin spelling ᜇᜓᜋᜒᜈᜓ)

1. dominoes (game)
2. domino tile
3. a kind of cloak with wide sleeves, hood, and mask (worn at masquerades)
4. a small, black mask for the eyes

• magdomino

• “domino”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018