English Explanatory Dictionary

the Ashes

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. A trophy played for by England and Australia in Test cricket; in the form of a small urn containing the ashes of a cremated cricket stump or set of bails.
  2. A series of Test cricket matches played between England and Australia.
  3. A nominal trophy contested by England and Australia in other sports, especially rugby league.
  4. A series of such test matches.

Pronunciation

en-au-the Ashes.ogg

Word forms

the Ashes

Etymology

From a satirical obituary published in an English newspaper after its loss to Australia in 1882, announcing the death of English cricket and that "the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia".

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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