Yarborough
[YAR-bə-rə]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: British, early 20th century
1.
(In bridge or whist) a hand with no card above a nine.
Examples of Yarborough in a sentence
"Jake wanted to get a yarborough in his weekly card game."
"The novice asked the card shark what a yarborough was."
About Yarborough
Charles Anderson Worsley, an English nobleman and second Earl of Yarborough, is said to have bet 1000 to one against the dealing of such a hand.
Did you Know?
Around 1900, Lord Yarborough gave his name to a hand of cards dealt in bridge that contains no ace and no card higher than a nine. The probability of getting a Yarborough is 347,373,600 out of 635,013,559,600 — or 1/1828. The earl offered £1,000 to anyone who achieved a "yarborough," on the condition they paid him £1 each time they didn’t get one.
