carom
verbEtymology Probably derived from French carambole (the red ball in billiards).
1
To make a carom (shot in billiards).
2
To strike and bounce back; to strike (something) and rebound.
- [T]he grubit bombs went rolling back and forth over our feet, fetching up against the sides of the car with a crash. The big Red Guard, whose name was Vladimir Nicolaievitch, plied me with questions about America […] while we held on to each other and danced amid the caroming bombs.1922, John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World:
- His head hit the side of the iron banisters and then, a twisting wheel of arms and legs, he disappeared over the edge, down into the well. There was a short crash as he caromed off some obstacle, then a pause, then a mingled thud and crack as he hit the ground. Then silence.1954, Ian Fleming, “No Sensayuma”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 79:
1 more example
- Snow filled her mouth. She caromed off things she never saw, tumbling through a cluttered canyon like a steel marble falling through pins in a pachinko machine.2012 December 26, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2013: