baize

From French baies, feminine plural of adjective bai (“bay-colored”) mistaken as a singular noun.

• IPA^(key): /beɪz/

  Rhymes: -eɪz

baize (countable and uncountable, plural baizes)

1. A thick, soft, usually woolen cloth resembling felt; often colored green and used for coverings on card tables, billiard and snooker tables, etc.
2. (dated) A coarse woolen material with a long nap; usually dyed in plain colors.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:

     my goods being all English manufacture, such as cloths, stuffs, baize, and things particularly valuable and desirable in the country, I found means to sell them to a very great advantage...

   • 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde:

     At the further end, a flight of stairs mounted to a door covered with a red baize; and through this, Mr. Utterson was at last received into the doctor's cabinet.

baize (third-person singular simple present baizes, present participle baizing, simple past and past participle baized)

1. To cover or line with baize.

• Zieba