Crossword clues for parlour game
parlour game
Wiktionary
alt. 1 Any of a number of amusing games played indoors with few props by the members of a social gathering. 2 (context politics figuratively English) The use of deliberately nebulous or confusing language. n. 1 Any of a number of amusing games played indoors with few props by the members of a social gathering. 2 (context politics figuratively English) The use of deliberately nebulous or confusing language.
WordNet
n. a game suitable for playing in a parlor [syn: parlor game]
Wikipedia
A parlour game is a group game played indoors. During the Victorian era in Great Britain and in the United States, these games were extremely popular among the upper and middle classes. They were often played in a parlour, hence the name.
"The Victorian age was certainly the Golden Age of the parlor game." During the 19th century, the upper and middle classes had more leisure time than people of previous generations. This led to the creation of a variety of parlour games to allow these gentlemen and ladies to amuse themselves at small parties. Boxed parlour games were very popular from around 1920 until into the 1960s, especially around Christmas. Parlour games competed for attention with the mass media, particularly radio, movies, and television. Though decreased in popularity, parlour games continue to be played. Some remain nearly identical to their Victorian ancestors; others have been transformed into board games such as Balderdash.
Many parlour games involve logic or word-play. Others are more physical games, but not to the extent of a sport or exercise. Some also involve dramatic skill, such as in charades. Most do not require any equipment beyond what would be available in a typical parlour. Parlour games are usually competitive, but cumulative scores are not usually kept. The length and ending time of the game is typically not set; play continues until the players decide to end the game.
Usage examples of "parlour game".
Where is it, this swamp of ambiguity, paradox, anarchy they're calling aporia his book right here somewhere probably at the bottom of the pile it was a game they played, the Greeks, a game you couldn't win, nobody could win, a parlour game proposing questions there was no clear answer to so winning wasn't the point of it no, no that's ours isn't it, right on the money because that's what the game is, the only game in town because that's what America's wait, little card there falling on the, there!
So the humiliated scientist, all of whose quips and quiddities had been knocked out of him in the last hour, fetched the burnt manuscript from the fender and handed round a collection of such slips as were still legible, as if it had been a parlour game in earnest.
Laura and I stood watching him together, our arms around each other, but wooden and foolish as though we were playing some parlour game that required us to freeze in midaction.
These phenomena have passed through the stage of being a parlour game.