blackjack
blackjack — noun
1. a popular casino card game where each player tries to make their hand of cards a
a popular casino card game where each player tries to make their hand of cards add up as close as possible to twenty-one, but never higher, in order to beat the dealer.
Fadi learned to play blackjack on a cheap deck at his grandfather's kitchen table.
play + blackjack (uncountable, no article)
Bram won eighty dollars at blackjack during her first night at the casino in Macau.
win at blackjack
The dealer at the blackjack table smiled and asked the tourists if they wanted another card.
After three hours of blackjack, Rohan was tired but still ahead by two hundred dollars.
Yael opened an online blackjack app on her phone and quietly placed her first bet from bed.
- twenty-one
another name for the same game, slightly old-fashioned in casinos.
- pontoon
British home version with slightly different rules; not used in casinos.
文法句型
play blackjack
win/lose at blackjack
用法筆記
Uncountable as a game name, so it takes no article in 'play blackjack' — just like 'play chess' or 'play poker'. The phrase 'a blackjack' would refer to the weapon (sense 2), not the game.
常見錯誤
2. a small heavy club, often a metal core wrapped tightly in leather or rubber, wit
a small heavy club, often a metal core wrapped tightly in leather or rubber, with a short bendy grip, swung to hit another person.
The detective found a leather blackjack hidden under the front seat of the suspect's car.
noun phrase: a/the + blackjack
In old American films, gangsters often knocked guards out cold with a blackjack.
knock (someone) out with a blackjack
The museum displays a worn blackjack once carried by a New York police officer in 1920.
Fadi felt the heavy blackjack swing past his ear and crash into the wooden door.
文法句型
hit/strike (someone) with a blackjack
用法筆記
Mainly American English; British speakers more often say 'cosh'. The weapon is small enough to hide in a coat pocket, which is why it appears so often in old crime stories.
常見錯誤
blackjack — verb
1. to make someone do what you want by frightening them with threats or by putting
to make someone do what you want by frightening them with threats or by putting strong pressure on them, often in a way that feels unfair or bullying.
The senator accused the lobby group of trying to blackjack small farmers into selling their land.
blackjack + someone + into + V-ing
Fadi refused to be blackjacked by his older brother into signing the unfair contract.
passive: be blackjacked into V-ing
Local shop owners said the gang had blackjacked them for years into paying weekly protection money.
The new manager tried to blackjack the team into working weekends without extra pay.
- coerce
more formal; same idea but neutral in tone, used in legal writing.
- strong-arm
very close in meaning and register; suggests physical or aggressive pressure.
- bully
broader; covers any kind of unkind pressure, not always to force a specific action.
- pressure
milder; the threat element may be weak or absent.
- persuade
to change someone's mind through reasoning, not threats.
文法句型
blackjack someone into doing something
用法筆記
Almost always followed by 'into + V-ing' to name the action forced on the victim. Common in American journalism about politics, business, or organised crime; rare in everyday conversation.