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Origin and history of gaming

gaming(n.)

c. 1500, "gambling," verbal noun from game (v.). From 1980s in reference to video and computer games. Gaming-house is from 1620s; gaming-table from 1590s.

also from c. 1500

Entries linking to gaming

game(v.)

Middle English gamen "to sport, joke, jest," from Old English gamenian "to play, jest, joke;" see game (n.). The Middle English word is little recorded from c. 1400 and modern use for "to play at games" (1520s) probably is a new formation from the noun; and it might have been re-re-coined late 20c. in reference to computer games. Related: Gamed; gaming.

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    play
    Middle English pleien, from Old English plegan, plegian "move lightly and quickly, occupy or busy oneself, amuse oneself; engage in active exercise; frolic; engage in children's play; make sport of, mock; perform music." It is from Proto-West Germanic *plegōjanan "occupy oneself
    discard
    Figurative use (in a non-gaming sense) "cast off, dismiss" is attested slightly earlier (1580s)....
    tassel
    Latin *tassellus, said to be from Latin taxillus "small die or cube," a diminutive of talus "knucklebone (used as a die in gaming...
    fear
    Originally transitive in English; long obsolete in this sense but somewhat revived in digital gaming via "fear" spells, which...
    kingpin
    the large pin in the game of kayles (similar to bowls except a club or stick was thrown instead of a ball; see "Games, Gaming...
    sandwich
    -1792), 4th Earl of Sandwich, who was said to be an inveterate gambler who ate slices of cold meat between bread at the gaming...
    level
    Garretson, "Professional Education," in "The Dental Cosmos," Philadelphia, 1865] Modern use is mostly from computer gaming...
    neat
    1540s, "clean, free from dirt," from Anglo-French neit, French net "clear, pure" (12c.), from Latin nitidus "well-favored, elegant, trim," literally "gleaming," from nitere "to shine," from PIE root *nei- "to shine" (source also of Middle Irish niam "gleam, splendor," niamda "shi
    worth
    Old English weorþ "significant, valuable, of value; valued, appreciated, highly thought-of, deserving, meriting; honorable, noble, of high rank; suitable for, proper, fit, capable," from Proto-Germanic *wertha- "toward, opposite," hence "equivalent, worth" (source also of Old Fri
    wroth
    Old English wrað "angry" (literally "tormented, twisted"), from Proto-Germanic *wraith- (source also of Old Frisian wreth "evil," Old Saxon wred, Middle Dutch wret, Dutch wreed "cruel," Old High German reid, Old Norse reiðr "angry, offended"), from *wreit-, from PIE root *wer- (2

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