roulette

Meanings

Noun

• A game of chance, in which a small ball is made to move round rapidly on a circle divided off into numbered red and black spaces, the one on which it stops indicating the result of a variety of wagers permitted by the game.
• An instance of risk-taking, especially when the downside exceeds the upside (contrary to the game of roulette where only the wager is lost).
• A small toothed wheel used by engravers to roll over a plate in order to produce rows of dots.
• A similar wheel used to roughen the surface of a plate, as in making alterations in a mezzotint.
• The locus of a point on a plane curve that rolls without slipping along another fixed plane curve.
• Any of the small incisions on a sheet of stamps, used as an alternative to perforations.
• A cylindrical curler for the hair.

Verb

• To separate or decorate by incisions made with a small toothed wheel.

Origin

• Borrowed from French roulette ("roulette, little wheel").