Glossary

All of the terms defined anywhere in the rules pages are collected here for convenience. This is all of the bridge specific terms that are specific to the rules. Technique terms and jargon like yarborough won't clutter up this list.

• Auction: The first phase of a hand of bridge. After cards are dealt, each player takes a turn making a call, starting with the dealer. If a player bids, their bid must be higher ranking then the last bid. Three passes in a row end the auction if any player has bid. Four initial passes also end the auction as a Pass Out. If any player has bid, the last bid is the contract. The player on the auction-winning partnership that first bid the denomination is the declarer. The other partner is dummy. Both members of the auction-losing partnership are defenders. The defender to the left of declarer has the opening lead.

• Bid: To state a number of tricks and a denomination. If the bid is the last bid, then the partnership that made the bid must take the number of bid tricks, plus an additional six tricks implied in every bid. There are thirty-five different bids: 1 through 7 in five different denominations. The bids are ordered by the number of tricks, and then within the same number of tricks by ranking the denominations: Clubs at the lowest rank, and then Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, and Notrump.

• Bonus Points: There are several bonuses that a declarer can receive for making specific contracts. Any extra tricks that declarer takes are overtricks and are scored as bonus points. Bidding and making a slam awards a bonus. Making a doubled contract awards an insult bonus of 50 points. Making a redoubled contract awards an insult bonus of 100 points. Doubled or redoubled overtricks are scored differently, See Advanced Scoring for complete details. None of these bonus points count toward game.

• Call: To either make a bid, or to do one of the following: Pass. Double, if the oppenents were the last to bid, and the bid has not already been doubled or redoubled. Or Redouble, if your partnership was the last to bid, and it has already been doubled, but not yet redoubled. Three passes in a row after anyone has bid ends the auction. Also if all Four players pass at their first turn, the auction ends in a pass out.

• Contract: The last bid of the auction becomes the contract. A pass, double, or redouble do not count as bids. So if the auction ends: 4♥, pass, pass, pass; then 4♥ is the contract. The pair that made the last bid must take at least the number of tricks in the bid, plus six.

• Deal: A single hand of bridge. Can either refer to a hand yet to be played or to a hand that was played and the auction and plays that occurred, including the result of the hand. For example: On deal 7, South played 6♥ and made 7.

• Declarer: The player who plays 2 hands at the bridge table. Their own and their partner's. Their partner is the dummy. The declarer is the first person to bid the suit (or NT) that is the final contract. If South bids 1♠, even if North later bids 2,3,4,5,6, and 7♠, South would be the declarer at a 7♠ contract.

• Defeat a Contract: When the defenders take enough tricks that declarer doesn't make their contract, the opponents have defeated the contract. Each trick that declarer is short of their contract is an undertrick. For example, if West was declarer at 5♦, and North-South took a combined 4 tricks, then West was defeated, and North-South score 2 undertricks.

• Defender: Either of the two players on the partnership that did not win the auction. The defender to the left of declarer has the Opening Lead. The defender to the left of declarer is sometimes called Left-Hand-Opponent or LHO. Similarly the defender to the right is sometimes called Right-Hand-Opponent or RHO. There are always two defenders and one declarer when the hand is played.

• Denomination: A short way of saying "suit or notrump.". There are four suits, so there are five denominations. The denominations are ranked, with Clubs as the lowest, then Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, and Notrump at the highest.

• Discard: When a player cannot follow suit, they may play any other card without restriction. To do so is called discarding. Sometimes used as a noun to refer to the card. His discard was the ♥3. Playing a trump is technically a discard, but is usually referred to as ruffing. Common use of discarding implies not playing a trump.

• Double: A call a player may make if the last non-pass was a bid by an opponent. After a double, there must be three additional passes in a row to end the auction. If there are three passes after a double, the final contract is doubled. This doesn't affect the number of tricks required or the trump suit. It increases the scoring for both players. Double is a slight misnomer: The points for the trick score are doubled exactly, as are the points for the first undertrick. There are additional bonuses and penalties. See the advanced scoring for complete details.

• Dummy: Declarer's partner is the dummy. Their hand is placed face up on the table after the opening lead. Dummy does not choose which cards to play. Instead declarer tells them what to play. Dummy should wait even if there is only one card in a suit led. Dummy may not offer suggestions or hints about the play, and should generally not say anything except to clarify which card declarer called for. Dummy may also remind declarer which hand last won a trick and must lead. Dummy is also used to refer to the hand which is on the table. I had four Spades and a five card Club suit in Dummy.

• Follow Suit: For the three players that must play a card to a trick after the lead, If they have the same suit as the card led, they must play a card from that suit. Beginners some times get caught if they are the third or fourth person to play and one of the other non-leads was a discard. Following suit applies only to the suit led.

• Game: A game is a race between partnerships to make 100 points from tricks that they have bid. Bonuses don't count toward this 100 point total. Neither do undertricks from defeating the opponents. The rubber Ends when one partnership has won two games. When a partnership has won one of the two required games, they are called vulnerable and there are scoring changes when their side declares. When a partnership has not yet won any games, they are called non-vulnerable. Winning two games ends the rubber, but it doesn't guarantee winning the rubber. A bonus is awarded for ending the rubber, and then all points, including points toward game, are totaled to determine the winner.

• Lead: To play the first card in a trick. Can also be used as a noun: either the first card played to a trick, or the obligation to play the first card in the next trick. The lead was the ♠7. or It's your lead, John.

• Major Suit: Hearts or Spades. A contract with a major suit as trump awards 30 points per trick after the first six. 4♥ and 4♠ are game contracts.

• Make a Contract: To take at least the required number of tricks as declarer. For example: If the contract is 3♠, and declarer took 9 or more tricks, then they made their contract. If declarer took 8 or fewer tricks, then their contract was defeated.

• Minor Suit: Clubs or Diamonds. A contract with a minor suit as trump awards 20 points per trick after the first six. 5♣ and 5♦ are game contracts. Because of the 2 trick difference between 3NT and 5♣ or 5♦, it is often better to play 3NT than 5♣ or 5♦.

• Non-Vulnerable: A partnership is non-vulnerable if they haven't yet won a game during this rubber. Their slam bonuses and doubled overtricks are smaller than if the partnership was vulnerable. The value the opponents get for undertricks is also smaller than if declarer was vulnerable.

• Notrump: A denomination that requires the play without a trump suit. Notrump contracts score 40 points for the first trick over six, and 30 points for each following trick. 3NT is a game contract, because it scores 100 points if made.

• Opening Lead: The obligation to play the first card of the bridge hand. The opening lead is made before seeing the cards in dummy. It is made by the defender to the left of declarer. Also used to refer to the card so led. The opening lead was the ♥Q.

• Overtrick: Any tricks that declarer makes above their contract The declaring partnership gets 30 points per overtrick if the contract was in notrump or a major suit. They get 20 points per overtrick if the contract was in a minor suit. The points per overtrick change if the contract is doubled or redoubled. Because the lowest contract requires seven tricks, the most overtricks possible is six. Overtricks do not count toward the 100 required points to make game.

• Pass: A neutral call that refrains to make any commitment. A player may bid, or double or redouble at a later turn in the auction despite having passed at a previous point. Three passes in a row end the auction if any player has bid. Four initial passes also end the auction as a Pass Out.

• Pass Out: When all four players pass initially, no tricks are played. The hand is reshuffled and redealt, by the next dealer: One player to the left of the current dealer.

• Slam Bonus: A bonus for bidding and making a contract of six or seven. A contract of six is for all but one of the tricks. A contract of seven is for all the tricks. The small slam bonus is 500 points when the declaring side is non-vulnerable and 750 when the declaring side is vulnerable. The grand slam bonus is exactly double: 1000 when the declaring side is non-vulnerable and 1500 when the declaring side is vulnerable. The slam bonus does not count toward the points required to make game.

• Redouble: A call a player may make if the last non-pass was a double by an opponent. After a redouble, there must be three additional passes in a row to end the auction. If there are three passes after a redouble, the final contract is redoubled. This doesn't affect the number of tricks required or the trump suit. It further increases the scoring above what it would be just for a doubled. See Advanced Scoring for complete details.

• Rubber: A rubber consists of best two of three games. It ends when on team has won two games. The team that won two games gets a large bonus, which means that they usually win the rubber. The team that wins the rubber is the team with the most points of any kind, including the rubber bonus. The bonus is 500 points if both teams had won a game before the rubber ended. It is 700 points if only the rubber-ending team had won a game before the rubber ended. A team that has won 1 of the 2 necessary games is vulnerable. A team that has not yet won a game is non-vulnerable.

• Ruff: To play a trump on a trick when you can't follow suit. variants: Overruff: to play a 2nd or 3rd trump to a trick that is higher than any previous trump played to that trick. Underruff: To play a 2nd or 3rd trump to a trick that is lower than one already played. Can be used as a noun to refer to A trick won by ruffing. He won the ♠A,K,Q,7 and 4, the ♣A,K and 3 ♦ ruffs to make 4♠.

• Slam: Any contract of 6 or 7. A contract of 6 is a small slam, and only allows declarer to lose 1 trick. A contract of 7 is a grand slam and doesn't allow declarer to lose any tricks. There is a bonus for bidding and making a slam.

• Trick: One card played by each person. A trick starts from the person with the lead. Play goes clockwise for the next three players. There are 13 tricks in one hand of bridge. She made 6♣ by taking 6 ♣ tricks, 2 tricks by ruffing ♦s, 3 tricks with the ♠AKQ, and one trick with the ♥K. She only lost one trick in ♥s.

• Trick Score: The points that the declaring side will get toward game, provided that they make their contract. The trick score is fixed at the end of the auction, and is not changed by declarer taking extra tricks. Any extra tricks are overtricks. The six implied tricks don't count toward the trick score. The trick score is 20 times the level of the contract with a minor suit as trump. It is 30 time the level of the contract for a major suit. It is 10 plus 30 times the level of the contract for notrump. The trick score is doubled if the contract is doubled. It is four times the non-doubled trick score if the contract is redoubled.

• Trump: A suit selected by the auction. The highest trump played to a trick wins the trick, even if trumps weren't led. Can refer to a card in the trump suit: The defense can win an extra trick if West doesn't play a trump. Can be used as a verb meaning: to play a trump. Susan made 2 overtricks because she was able to trump 3 ♣'s in dummy. See ruff.

• Undertrick: When declarer makes fewer tricks than the contract, each trick they are short is an undertrick. An undertrick is worth 50 points to the defending side if the declaring side is non-vulnerable and 100 points to the defending side if the declaring side is vulnerable. These values change if the contract is doubled. These points for the defending side do not count toward game.

• Vulnerable: A partnership is vulnerable if they have won 1 game in a rubber. Being vulnerable increases slam bonuses and doubled overtricks for the declaring side. The oppenents score more for undertricks if a vulnerable declarer is defeated.

• Win a Trick: To either play the highest trump, or the highest card of the suit led. The highest card of the suit led wins if the hand is played in Notrump, or if no trump was played on the trick. West's lead of ♠J was covered by the Q, and then East's K. Declarer played the ♠6 and East won the trick.