BAGATELLE

bagatelle, bar billiards

(noun) a table game in which short cues are used to knock balls into holes that are guarded by wooden pegs; penalties are incurred if the pegs are knocked over

bagatelle, fluff, frippery, frivolity

(noun) something of little value or significance

bagatelle

(noun) a light piece of music for piano

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

bagatelle (plural bagatelles)

A trifle; an insubstantial thing.

Synonyms: bag of shells, Thesaurus:trifle

A short piece of literature or of instrumental music, typically light or playful in character.

A game similar to billiards played on an oblong table with pockets or arches at one end only.

Any of several smaller, wooden table top games developed from the original bagatelle in which the pockets are made of pins; also called pin bagatelle, hit-a-pin bagatelle, jaw ball.

Verb

bagatelle (third-person singular simple present bagatelles, present participle bagatelling, simple past and past participle bagatelled)

(intransitive, rare) To meander or move around, in a manner similar to the ball in the game of bagatelle.

(transitive, rare) To bagatellize; to regard as a bagatelle.

Source: Wiktionary

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Bag`a*telle", n. Etym: [F., fr. It. bagatella; cf. Prov. It. bagata trifle, OF. bague, Pr. bagua, bundle. See Bag, n.]

1. A trifle; a thing of no importance. Rich trifles, serious bagatelles. Prior.

2. A game played on an oblong board, having, at one end, cups or arches into or through which balls are to be driven by a rod held in the hand of the player.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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