"a collection of tools, utensils, etc. adapted as a means to some end," 1620s, from Latin apparatus "tools, implements, equipment; preparation, a preparing," noun of state from past-participle stem of apparare "prepare," from ad "to" (see ad-) + parare "make ready" (from PIE root *pere- (1) "to produce, procure").
type of card game played with a partial deck, 1846, American English, of unknown origin. Elements of the game indicate it might be from German. In early use also uker, yucker.
c. 1300, "activity that offers amusement, pleasure, or recreation," from Anglo-French disport, Old French desport, from disporter/desporter "divert, amuse" (see disport (v.)). From late 14c. as "a sport or game; the game of love, flirtation."
card game for two or four, 1620s, probably from crib "set of cards thrown from each player's hand" (which is of uncertain origin), though this word is later than the game name.
1850, American English, from Canadian French jeu de la crosse (18c.), literally "game of the hooked sticks," from crosse "hooked stick," such as that used in the game to throw the ball. This French word is, perhaps via a Gallo-Romance *croccia, from Proto-Germanic *kruk- (see crook (n.)). Originally a North American Indian game; the native name is represented by the Ojibwa (Algonquian) verb baaga'adowe "to play lacrosse." Modern form and rules of the game were laid down 1860 in Canada.
c. 1300, "mail, defensive covering worn in combat," also, generally, "means of protection," from Old French armeure "weapons, armor" (12c.), from Latin armatura "arms, equipment," from arma "weapons" (including defensive armor), literally "tools, implements (of war)," see arm (n.2). Figurative use in English is from mid-14c.
The meaning "military equipment generally," especially siege engines, is from late 14c. The word might have died with jousting if not for 19c. transference to metal-sheathed combat machinery beginning with U.S. Civil War ironclads (the word first is attested in this sense in an 1855 report from the U.S. Congressional Committee on Naval Affairs). The meaning "protective envelope of an animal" is from c. 1600.
complicated two-person game played with a 32-card pack, 1640s, from French piquet, picquet (16c.), a name of uncertain origin, as are many card-game names, and it comes trailing the usual cloud of fanciful and absurd speculations. Perhaps it is a diminutive of pic "pick, pickaxe, pique," from the suit of spades, or from the phrase faire pic, a term said to be used in the game. In the game, a pique was a winning of 30 points before one's opponent scored at all in the same hand. But its earlier name in French (16c.) was Cent, from its target score of 100 points. The classic aristocratic two-handed game, and the unofficial national card game of France, it faded after World War I in the face of simpler, more democratic games. Compare kaput.
late 15c., "dog used to set up game again," agent noun from retrieve (v.). As "one of a breed specially suited to search for and fetch dead or wounded game" is by 1830.
old three-person card game, 1530s, from French glic, ghelicque (15c.), perhaps from Middle Dutch ghelic (Dutch gelijk) "like, alike" because one of the goals of the game is collecting three cards of the same rank.
