| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| quoit |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  kwoit, koit |
| NOUN: | Upper Northern U.S. 1. quoits (used with a sing. verb) A game in which flat rings of iron or rope are pitched at a stake, with points awarded for encircling it. 2. One of the rings used in this game. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English coyte, flat stone, quoit, from Old French coilte, coite, from Latin culcita, cushion. | | REGIONAL NOTE: | The game quoits derives its name from quoit, specifically denoting a heavy iron ring slightly convex on the outside and concave inside, configured so as to give it an edge for cutting into the ground. Both the game and the term are associated almost exclusively with the Upper North (the northernmost tier of states from New York State westward to North Dakota). In fact, quoits is one of a dozen terms that are most reliable for delineating the Upper North dialect boundary.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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