gameful

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡeɪmfʊl/, /ˈɡeɪmfəl/

Etymology 1

From Middle English gameful, gamful; equivalent to game +‎ -ful.

Adjective

gameful (comparative more gameful, superlative most gameful)

1. (archaic) Full of game (prey for a hunter).

   Synonym: game-filled

   • 1695, Richard Blackmore, “Book IV”, in Prince Arthur. An Heroick Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Awnsham and John Churchil […], →OCLC, page 110:

     For warlike Toil he leaves the gameful Wood, / And fleſht his Courage firſt in Saxon Blood.

   • 1978, The Visva-bharati Quarterly, page 181:

     The condition of liberty not only covers the 'sandy Wilds' with 'yellow Harvests' (1.88) but also transforms the 'empty Wilds and Woods' to 'gameful Woods' (I. 95), and the tyrant hunter having become a prey, the liberated swain becomes a hunter.

   • 1992, “Historical Reflections”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 18, page 34:

     Ye vig'rous Swains! while Youth ferments your Blood, And purer Spirits swell the sprightly Flood, Now range the Hills, the gameful Woods beset, Wind the shrill Horn, or spread the waving Net.

2. Characteristic of prey; game-like.
   • 1836, William Carpenter, The Life and Times of John Milton, page 26:

     As such they not only made them the sport of the pulpit, which was become but a more solemn sort of stage; but every stage, and every table, and every puppet play, belched forth profane scoffs upon them; the drunkards made them their songs; all fiddlers and mimics learned to abuse them, as finding its most gameful way of fooling.

   • 1919, “Hunter-trader-trapper”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 39, page 52:

     Unlike the red foxes these animals can, and often do, climb trees that are sufficiently inclined to warrant a foothold. And they also depend more upon their ability to hide when pursued than upon the more gameful tactics of track deception.

   • 2011, John Guzman, Reflections Behind the Retina, page 76:

     One of the pistoleros went to her but not getting any reaction from an overly sleepy and disinterested passenger returned to more gameful victims.

3. Having the characteristics of a game that can be played.
   • 2014, Thomas Middleton, Alan Brissenden, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside:

     Then time shall never grieve me, for by that vow, E'en absent I enjoy her, assuredly confirmed that none Else shall, which will make tedious years seem gameful To me.

   • 2018, Jonathon Reinhardt, Gameful Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning:

     How does one conduct research on gameful L2TL?

   • 2018, Virkar, Shefali, Parycek, Peter, Edelmann, Noella, Proceedings of the International Conference EGOV-CeDEM-ePart 2018, page 239:

     We acknowledge that sometimes playful activities occur within games and gameful activities are part of play.

4. Pertaining to games.
   • 2014, Ryan Schaaf, Nicky Mohan, Making School a Game Worth Playing: Digital Games in the Classroom:

     How can gameful designers incorporate meaningful, relevant realworld application into their gamified learning experiences?

   • 2015, Norbert Streitz, Panos Markopoulos, Distributed, Ambient, and Pervasive Interactions, page 100:

     Incorporating gameful digital rhetoric into the real world contributes to enhancing the meaning of the real world if the gameful digital rhetoric is meaningful to people.

   • 2016, Jane McGonigal, SuperBetter:

     Seeking out and completing quests is just one of the seven gameful skills that will help you become stronger, happier, and braver in everyday life.

Translations

full of game — see game-filled

Etymology 2

From game +‎ -ful.

Noun

gameful (plural gamefuls)

1. A quantity found in a game.
   • 1964, Top of the News - Volumes 21-22, page 15:

     I LOVE MY ANTEATER WITH AN A and everything else absurd, bewitching, exotic, and zoo-phile-ic from A to Z in a gameful of laughter.

   • 1974, Artforum - Volume 13, Issues 4-10, page 35:

     Bengston doing a roomful of painting is like Joe Willie Namath doing a gameful of curl patterns, Jason Robards doing an eveningful of O'Neill, Tina Turner doing a concertful of. . . . and so on.

   • 1988, The Nebula Awards - Volume 22, page 3:

     Suddenly there are new gamefuls of moves that can be duplicated and perhaps even improved on as things in themselves.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• gamful, gomeful, gomenfull

Etymology

From game +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡaːmful/, /ˈɡamful/

Adjective

gameful

1. mirthful, merry

Descendants

• English: gameful

References

• “gām(e)ful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-07-09.