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playing cards

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playing cards

Set of small pieces of card with different markings, used in playing games. A standard set consists of a pack of 52 cards divided into four suits: hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades. Within each suit there are 13 cards: nine are numbered (from two to ten), three are called court, picture, or face cards (jack, queen, and king), and one is called the ace.

Playing cards are thought to have originated in China, and first appeared in Europe in 14th-century Italy as the 78 cards (22 emblematic, including ‘the hanged man’, and 56 numerals) of the tarot cards, used both for gaming and in fortune-telling. However, in the 15th century they were reduced to the standard pack of 52 for most games, which include bridge, whist, poker, rummy, and cribbage.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Some of them were sipping wine, others were playing cards, others chess, other groups were chatting together, and many were smoking cigarettes while they waited for the coming duels.
A Tramp Abroad by Twain, Mark View in context
In the midst of the third ecossaise there was a clatter of chairs being pushed back in the sitting room where the count and Marya Dmitrievna had been playing cards with the majority of the more distinguished and older visitors.
War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo View in context
On our return from that expedition we came gliding into the old harbour so late that Dominic and I, making for the cafe kept by Madame Leonore, found it empty of customers, except for two rather sinister fellows playing cards together at a corner table near the door.
The Arrow of Gold by Conrad, Joseph View in context
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