-Curling Terminology

 

Backboards - The boards behind the back at either end of the playing area.

Blank End - An end that is scoreless.

Bonspiel - A curling tournament.

Burying a Stone - Placing a shot behind a guard so no part of the rock shows from other end.

Button - The innermost circle surrounding the tee. The button is usually one foot in diameter.

Center Line - A line drawn from one hack to the other, passing through the tee at both ends of the ice.

Circles - The round scoring area, 12 feet in diameter, with concentric circles 1, 4, and 8 feet in diameter.

Come Around - A shot that curls around a guard.

Coming Home - Playing the final end of a game.

Counter - A stone that is in a scoring position.

Curl - The rotating movement of a stone caused by turning the handle.

Delivery - The act of throwing a rock.

Double - Removing two stones from play with one shot.

Draw - Although a draw is normally into the house, any rock where the speed will make it stop between hog line and back line.

Eight-ender - An end in which a team has scored the maximum possible number of points.

End - A division of the game. An end is complete when all sixteen rocks (eight per team) have been thrown. A club game is usually eight ends, or about two hours long.

Extra End - An additional end played to break a tie at the end of regulation play.

Freeze - A draw that finishes touching or nearly touching another rock.

Front End - The lead and second player on a curling team.

Guard - A rock between the hog line and the house that can be used to protect rocks in the house.

Hack - The rubber starting block embedded in the ice from which the curler begins deliver of a stone.

Hammer - The last rock in an end.

Heavy - A stone that is delivered with more than the desired amount of weight or force.

Heavy Ice - Opposite of fast or keen ice. Heavy ice requires a stone to be thrown with more than normal weight.

Hit - A rock intended to collide with another rock.

Hit and Roll - A takeout that removes a stone, hitting it off center and then moving to a target area.

Hit the Broom - When a curler releases his rock directly on the skip's target broom.

Hog - A stone that stops short of the far hog line.

Hog Line - A line located 21 feet from each tee. A rock must be released before the near hog line, and travel beyond the far hog line.

House - The round scoring area, 12 feet in diameter, with concentric circles 1, 4, and 8 feet in diameter.

Hurry - A call used by some teams to tell the sweepers to sweep quickly.

In-turn - A rock whose handle is rotated inward toward the body. An in-turn for a right-handed curler rotates clockwise.

Keen Ice - When little effort is required to deliver the rock. Also known as fast ice.

Last Rock - The last rock to be thrown in an end.

Lead - The player who delivers the rink's first two rocks of each end.

Lie Shot - Having the stone closest to the tee.

Light - A stone that is delivered with less than the desired weight or force.

Long Guard - A guard near the hog line.

Lose Handle - A stone that loses its initial rotating motion during its travel down the rink.

Narrow - A rock delivered inside the intended line of delivery (between the skip's broom and the target).

Off the Broom - A stone that is not delivered on the line of the skip's broom.

On the Broom - A shot that started out on a line toward the skip's broom.

Out-turn - A rock whose handle is rotated outward or away from the body. An outturn for a right-handed curler rotates counter-clockwise.

Pebble - A light spray of water that freezes on contact with the ice creating small bumps that cut down the amount of the ice surface the rock is in contact with.

Port - An opening between two or more rocks that is wide enough to allow a stone to pass through.

Raise - The action of promoting a stone from one position to another closer to or in the house.

Rings - The circles that make up the house.

Rink - A curling team that consists of four players: the skip, third (vice-skip), second, and lead. Also refers to the place where curling is played.

Rock - Stone.

Roll - The movement of a stone after it hits another stone off center.

Second - The player who delivers the team's third and fourth rocks.

Second Shot - The stone that is second-nearest to the tee.

Sheet - The 146-foot-long area of the ice on which the game is played.

Shot - The stone that is nearest the tee during the play of an end (also known as shot rock). It may also refer to the playing of a stone (i.e., making a shot).

Shot Rock - The rock that is closest to the tee.

Skip - The player who calls the ice and determines the strategy. Almost always plays the last two rocks for his team (but may throw in a different order in some games.

Slide - The part of the delivery after the curler leaves the hack and moves down the ice completing the throwing of the stone.

Slider - A slippery device that is worn on the sliding foot during the delivery of a stone. Usually teflon,plastic or stainless steel.

Steal - What happens when the team that does not have last rock scores a point or points.

Sweeping - Using a brush to polish the ice in an effort to alter the action of the rock.

Takeout - A type of shot that removes another rock from play.

Tee - The center point of the house.

Tee Line - A line passing through the tee at right angles to the center line.

Third - The player who delivers the team's fifth an sixth rocks and assists the skip in strategy and ice reading.

Vice-skip - See third.

Weight - The amount of force applied to a rock to move it down the ice.

Wide - A stone that is delivered outside the line of the skip's brush.

Info taken from- http://www.curldc.org/about/glossary.php

 

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