(kə-sēˈnō)
noun pl. ca·si·nos - A public room or building for gambling and other entertainment.
- also cas·si·no A card game for two to four players in which cards on the table are matched by cards in the hand.
- A summer or country house in Italy.
Word History: The history of the word
casino reveals a transformation from a cottage to a gambling palace. The source of our word, Italian
casino, is a diminutive of
casa, “house.” Central to the transformation is the development of the senses of
casino in Italian. The word was first applied to a country house and then came to be used for a social gathering place, a room or building where one could dance, listen to music, and gamble. This last pastime seems to have gained precedence over the others, at least as far as the development of the word is concerned, and
casino took on the meaning “gambling establishment.” These senses of the Italian word have all been borrowed into English, the sense “social gathering place” being recorded first in the 18th century, the sense “gambling establishment” first in 1851.
