Bridge Glossary

The vocabulary of rubber bridge — 115 terms, defined.

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A – B#

Term	Meaning
Above the line	Bonuses and penalties. Count in the total, not towards game.
ACOL	The British system: four-card majors, a weak no trump and limit bids. One of Rase's two.
Advance	A response to partner's overcall or takeout double, rather than to an opening bid.
Attitude	A signal saying whether you want partner to continue the suit. High encourages.
Auction	The bidding, from the dealer's first call to three passes.
Avoidance	Playing so that the dangerous opponent never gets the lead.
Balanced	A hand with no void, no singleton and at most one doubleton — 4333, 4432 or 5332.
Balancing	Bidding in the pass-out seat on lighter values than usual.
Below the line	Trick score for a contract bid and made. Only these count towards game.
Bid	A call naming a number of tricks and a strain. Each must be higher than the last.
Blackwood	A 4NT bid asking how many aces — or, in the key-card form, how many key cards.
Book	The first six tricks, which never count. A contract of 3♥ needs book plus three.
Bust	A hand with nothing in it, and nothing to say.

C – D#

Term	Meaning
Call	Anything you may say in the auction: a bid, a pass, a double or a redouble.
Cash	To take a trick with a winner while it is still good.
Claim	To state that the remaining tricks are yours, ending the play there.
Contract	The final bid of the auction: how many tricks, in what strain.
Convention	An agreed bid that means something other than what it says.
Count	A signal showing how many cards you hold in a suit.
Cover	Playing a higher honour on an honour led, to promote a card below.
Cross-ruff	Trumping in both hands in turn, so the trumps make separately.
Cue-bid	A bid of a suit you do not want to play in, used to ask or show something else.
Dealer	The player who deals and calls first. It moves one seat clockwise each deal.
Declarer	The player of the winning side who first named the contract's strain.
Defender	Either opponent of declarer.
Discard	Playing a card of another suit when you cannot follow and do not ruff.
Distribution points	Points added for shape — a long suit, or a shortage opposite a fit.
Double	A call raising the stakes both ways. For penalties, or asking for takeout.
Double-dummy	Play or analysis with all four hands visible — the perfect-information ideal.
Doubleton	Exactly two cards in a suit.
Drawing trumps	Leading trumps until the opponents have none left to ruff with.
Dummy	Declarer's partner, whose cards are laid face up and played by declarer.
Duplicate	Bridge scored by comparison, the same deals played at every table. Not rubber bridge.

E – H#

Term	Meaning
Endplay	Putting an opponent on lead when every card they hold costs them a trick.
Entry	A card that lets you win a trick in the hand you need to reach.
Establish	To turn the small cards of a long suit into winners by forcing out the high ones.
Finesse	An attempt to win a trick with a card that is not the highest outstanding.
Fit	Eight or more cards of a suit between two hands — enough to play it as trumps.
Follow suit	To play a card of the suit led. Compulsory whenever you hold one.
Forcing	A bid partner may not pass.
Fourth highest	The traditional lead from a long suit: the fourth card down.
Game	100 points below the line. Two games win the rubber.
Grand slam	All thirteen tricks, bid and made at the seven level.
Guard	See stopper.
Hand	The thirteen cards you are dealt — and also one whole deal, from the auction to the score.
HCP	High-card points: A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1. Forty in the pack.
Hold up	Refusing to win a trick, to cut the link between the defenders' hands.
Honours	A K Q J 10 of trumps, or the four aces at no trumps. Worth 100 or 150 in one hand.

I – L#

Term	Meaning
IMP	A compressive scale for comparing two results. Used here to turn point losses into a grade.
Insult	50 (or 100) for making a contract the opponents doubled.
Invitational	A bid asking partner to bid game with a maximum and to pass with a minimum.
Jacoby 2NT	A game-forcing raise of partner's major showing four-card support and room for slam.
Jacoby transfer	A bid of the suit below your own, asking partner to bid yours so they declare it.
Key card	In Roman Key Card Blackwood, one of the four aces or the king of trumps.
Lead	The first card to a trick. Whoever won the last trick leads to the next.
LHO	Left-hand opponent — the player on your left, who plays after you.
Limit bid	A bid showing a narrow range of strength, which partner is free to pass.
Long suit	Five cards or more. Length wins more tricks than high cards do.

M – O#

Term	Meaning
Major	Hearts or spades. Game needs ten tricks, so 4♥ and 4♠ are the targets.
Michaels cue-bid	A cue-bid of the opponents' suit showing two suits of your own at once.
Minor	Clubs or diamonds. Game needs eleven tricks, which is why 3NT is usually preferred.
Misfit	Two hands with no suit in common. Stop low and stop early.
Negative double	A double of an overcall showing the unbid suits, not a wish to punish.
No trumps	A contract with no trump suit. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick.
Non-vulnerable	Not yet having won a game. Both bonuses and penalties are smaller.
Opener	The first player to make a bid, and the one whose rebid describes the hand.
Opening lead	The first card of the play, made by the player on declarer's left.
Overcall	A bid made after an opponent has opened.
Overruff	To trump a trick an opponent has already trumped, with a higher trump.
Overtrick	A trick taken beyond the contract. Scored above the line.

P – R#

Term	Meaning
Par	The result if both sides bid and defend perfectly. The yardstick for grading an auction.
Part-score	Below-the-line points short of 100, carried into the next deal.
Pass	A call declining to bid. Three in a row end the auction.
Passed out	An auction of four passes. The deal is thrown in and nobody scores.
Penalty double	A double made expecting to defeat the contract rather than to hear a suit.
Preempt	A high opening bid on a long weak hand, to steal the opponents' bidding room.
Promotion	Making a lower card into a winner by forcing out the cards above it.
Quack	A queen or a jack, when it hardly matters which. The points that least often pull their weight.
Quantitative	A 4NT bid inviting slam on strength, rather than asking for aces.
Raise	Supporting partner's suit by bidding it higher.
Rebid	A bidder's second call — where most of the description of a hand actually happens.
Redouble	A call after a double, raising the stakes once more.
Revoke	Failing to follow suit when you could. The app makes it impossible.
RHO	Right-hand opponent — the player on your right, who plays before you.
Roman Key Card Blackwood	Blackwood counting five key cards — the aces and the trump king — and asking about the trump queen.
Rubber	The match: first side to win two games, plus 500 or 700 for winning it.
Ruff	Playing a trump when unable to follow suit.
Running suit	A suit in which every card left is a winner.

S#

Term	Meaning
Sacrifice	Bidding a contract you expect to fail, because the penalty costs less than their contract would score.
Safety play	A line that gives up a chance of an overtrick to guard against a bad break.
Sequence	Two or more touching honours, such as K Q J. What makes a lead safe.
Shape	How a hand divides between the four suits, written longest first — 5-4-3-1.
Signal	A card played to tell partner something rather than to win the trick.
Singleton	Exactly one card in a suit.
Slam	A contract at the six level (small) or the seven level (grand).
Squeeze	Forcing an opponent to throw a card they need, because they have no idle one left.
Stayman	A 2♣ response to 1NT asking whether opener holds a four-card major.
Stopper	A card or holding that will stop the opponents running a suit at no trumps.
Strain	What a bid names: a suit, or no trumps.
Suit quality	How good a long suit is — judged on its top cards as well as its length.

T – Z#

Term	Meaning
Takeout double	A double asking partner to bid their best unbid suit.
Tempo	The initiative in the play — each side racing to establish its tricks first.
Tenace	Two cards with a gap, such as A Q. Worth far more led up to than led away from.
Third hand	The third player to a trick, who traditionally plays high.
Trick	Four cards, one from each player. Won by the highest trump, or the highest card of the suit led.
Trump	The suit named in the contract. Any trump beats any card of any other suit.
Trump promotion	A defensive trick won by forcing declarer to ruff high, promoting partner's trump.
Unblock	Playing a high card away so that a long suit opposite can run.
Undertrick	A trick short of the contract. Paid to the defenders above the line.
Unfinished rubber	A rubber abandoned before either side wins two games. Premiums of 300 or 100 apply.
Void	No cards at all in a suit.
Vulnerable	Having won a game. Raises both bonuses and penalties for the rest of the rubber.
Weak two	An opening bid of two in a suit, on a six-card suit and less than opening strength.
Wriggle	Escaping from a doubled 1NT by searching for a playable trump fit.
Yarborough	A hand with no card higher than a nine.