: a card game for two players in which each player tries to form various counting combinations of cards

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Cribbage is a card game, usually for two players, in which each player tries to form various counting combinations of cards. Each player receives six cards, and the score is kept by moving pegs on a narrow rectangular board. (There is also a five-card variant, as well as four-hand and three-hand variants.) Cribbage was invented by the 17th-century English poet and courtier John Suckling. The rules of play, though somewhat involved, are simple enough to make cribbage a popular pastime, particularly in Britain and the United States. The game usually ends at 121 (twice around the board plus one).

Examples of cribbage in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Tom had a great group of friends that shared his love of cribbage, poker, and other card games. Contributed Content, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2025 This cribbage board, made in Wisconsin and shaped like the state, has a pine trees and stars motif. Hope Karnopp, jsonline.com, 20 Nov. 2025 This meant grinding them down to little nubs of enamel, like pegs on a cribbage board, then capping them with crowns. Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 28 July 2025 Mahjong is a prime example of this, Killingstad says, and other ideas include checkers, chess, dominoes, and cribbage (just to name a few). Wendy Rose Gould, Martha Stewart, 14 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for cribbage

Word History

Etymology

crib entry 1

First Known Use

1630, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cribbage was in 1630

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Cite this Entry

“Cribbage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cribbage. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

Kids Definition

: a card game in which each player tries to form various counting combinations of cards

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