[a. F. boston, f. the name of the city of Boston in Massachusetts: see Littré, and the Académie des Jeux.] A game at cards, allied to whist, named after the siege of Boston in the American War of Independence, to which the technical terms of the game refer.
[1805. Académie Univ. des Jeux s.v. Whist, Tarif du jeu de Boston Whist.]
1820. in Hoyle.
1850. Bohn’s Handbk. Games, 295. Boston … very much resembles Whist, and is somewhat like Quadrille.
1866. Daily Tel., 10 June, 5/1. The French national game of Boston, which was invented in honour of a certain Transatlantic infusion.
1880. Libr. Univ. Knowl., II. 791. Boston, a game at cards, played by 4 persons, with 2 packs [one dealt, the other cut for trumps].
