Curling Terms
What’s an end? A freeze? How deep do you have to dig to “bury a stone?” Like any other sport, curling comes with its own unique vocabulary. Check out our glossary so you can talk the talk too.
Index: B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | K | L | N | O | P | R | T | V | W
A
Arena: [or Arena Ice] When Curling is played on Hockey or other shared Ice.
B
Backboards: The boards behind the back at either end of the playing area. [often simply 'the boards']
Back End: Collective term for the Third and Fourth Deliverers. Usually the Vice and Skip, these players talk Strategy.
Blank End: An end that is scoreless. The team with hammer retains the hammer.
Bonspiel: A curling party and mini tournament.
Boop: ever so slightly touching a stone.
Broomstacking: After a Curling Match, both teams share a table and celebrate their 'Good Curling' together.
Burning a Rock: Burning a rock means to throw away a shot completely for strategic reasons. usually the first or last shot of an end.
Burnt Stone: A stone that is struck by a sweepers broom. Players call this foul on themselves. usually the stone is removed immediately - even during a shot.
Burying a Stone: Placing a shot behind a guard or another stone so no part of the stone can be seen from other end.
Button: The innermost circle surrounding the tee. The button is usually one foot in diameter.
C
Center: [or Center Guard] A Guard stone placed on the center line.
Center Line: A line drawn on the center of the sheet from Hack to Hack.
Circles: The round scoring area, 12 feet in diameter, with concentric circles 1, 4, and 8 feet in diameter. (see House or Rings)
Come Around: A shot that curls around a guard. (see Draw)
Coming Home: Playing towards the Warm room or Benches, usually the even ends.
Corner: [or Corner Guard] A Guard stone placed covering a side of the house.
Counter: A stone that is in a scoring position.
Curl: The action of the stone to turn a direction as it slows down. Curl is the amount of that action. The amount is based on the type of shot, Ice Conditions, and sweeping.
Curling Club: Curling Clubs are the non profit organizations that manage and maintain most curling Ice. Virtually all curling clubs are Member run and Member Maintained by fleets of Member Volunteers.
D
Dedicated: [or Dedicated Ice] A sheet of ice specifically used for curling and only curling. Potomac Curling Club has Dedicated Ice.
Delivery: The act of throwing a rock. The entire process from start of movement to releasing the stone is the Delivery.
Dig: Like Go Hard, something yelled to get sweepers to sweep.
Double: Removing two stones from play with one shot.
Draw: A Shot where the stone comes to a complete stop somewhere in the play area. A Draw into the house is a Scoring Rock. A draw in front of the house is called a Guard.
E
Eight-ender: An end in which a team has scored the maximum possible number of points. Eight end games are rarer than a 300 game in bowling. In Potomac's 65 year history we have had seven 8-end games.
End: An end is complete when all sixteen rocks (eight per team) have been thrown and scored. A club game is usually eight ends.
Extra End: An additional end played to break a tie.
F
First: The first player to deliver for a team, delivering stones 1 and 2. [See Lead]
Flash: A Hit that misses every stone.
Fourth: The 4th player to deliver for a team, delivering stones 7 and 8. Usually the Skip.
Free Guard: (or Free Guard Zone) The Area in front of the house. Guards set up in the Free Guard Zone have rules that protect them from being removed until later in the end.
Freeze: A draw that finishes touching or nearly touching another rock.
Front End: Collective term for the First and Second players. Usually the Lead and Second, The Front End does most of the Sweeping.
G
Guard: A rock between the hog line and the house that can be used to protect rocks in the house.
Go Hard: an expression used by Skips to communicate a sweep call. It usually means to sweep as 'hard' as you can for that moment. [see Hurry]
H
Hack: The rubber starting block embedded in the ice from which the curler begins their delivery. There is one for Right Handers and one for Left Handers.
Hammer: The last rock in an end. Usually the most important and strategic.
Handle: A word used to describe the rotation on a rock. The Handle refers to the direction of a shot. The Amount of Handle refers to how much a stone is spinning.
Heavy: A stone that is delivered with more than the desired amount of weight or force.
High Guard: A guard near the hog line.
Hit: A rock intended to collide with another rock.
Hit and Roll: A takeout that removes a stone, hitting it out and then moving to a target area.
Hit the Broom: When a curler releases their rock directly on the skip’s target, usually a broom.
Hog: A stone that stops short of the far hog line. A stone must make the far hog line to be allowed to stay in play. A 'Hogged' rock is removed from play. [see Hog Line]
Hog Line: A line located 21 feet from each tee. A rock must be released before the near hog line. [see Hog]
Hot: A Stone that has been delivered Faster than intended.
House: The round scoring area, 12 feet in diameter, with concentric circles 1, 4, and 8 feet in diameter. [See Rings]
Hurry: A call used by some teams to tell the sweepers to sweep quickly. [see Go Hard]
I
Ice: There are multiple uses of the word Ice: The entire playing surface is called 'the Ice' or the amount of space (ice) between a skips target broom and the intended location.
In-turn: A rock whose handle is rotated inward toward the body. An in-turn for a right-handed curler rotates clockwise. [see Out Turn]
K
Keen: When little effort is required to deliver the rock. Also known as fast ice or Quick Ice.
L
Last Rock: The last rock to be thrown in an end. [See Hammer]
Lead: The player who delivers the rink’s first two rocks of each end. [see First]
Less Ice: When a player would like the target closer to the final location. Usually because rocks are curling less.
Light: A stone that is delivered with less than the desired weight or force.
Line: The delivery target. 'The Line' goes from a delivering player's stone to the Skip's Broom. The line is NOT where the stone will end up after curling.
Lost Handle: A stone that stops its rotating motion during its travel down the sheet and does not curl properly.
M
More Ice: When a player would like the target further away from the final location. Usually because rocks are curling more.
N
Narrow: A rock delivered inside the intended line of delivery (between the skip’s broom and the target). [see Wide]
O
Off the Broom: A stone that is not delivered on the line of the skip’s broom.
On the Broom: A stone that is delivered on the line of the skip’s broom.
Out-turn: A rock whose handle is rotated outward or away from the body. An outturn for a right-handed curler rotates counter-clockwise. [see In Turn]
P
Pebble: A light spray of water that freezes on contact with the ice creating small bumps that cut down the amount of the ice surface the rock is in contact with. Pebble is key to the game and wears down, changing conditions during a match.
Pin: The exact center of the house. The pin is a small hole in the used for measurements.
Port: An opening between two or more rocks that is wide enough to allow a stone to pass through.
R
Raise: The action of promoting a stone from one position to another closer to or in the house.
Rings: The circles that make up the house.
Rink: A curling team that consists of four players: the skip, third (vice-skip), second, and lead. Also refers to the place where curling is played.
Rock: Stone.
Roll: The movement of a stone after it hits another stone off center. players will 'want a Roll' or will 'not want a Roll'.
S
Second: The player who delivers the team’s third and fourth rocks.
Second Shot: The stone that is second-nearest to the tee. [ie, third shot, fourth shot...]
Sheet: The 146-foot-long area of the ice on which the game is played.
Shot: The stone that is nearest the tee during the play of an end (see shot rock). It may also refer to the playing of a stone (i.e., making a shot).
Shot Rock: The rock that is closest to the tee. sometimes Shot Stone.
Skip: The player who calls the strategy. Often delivers the last two rocks for their team (but may throw in any order).
Slide: The part of the delivery after the curler leaves the hack and moves down the ice completing the delivery of the stone.
Slider: A slippery device that is worn on or under the sliding foot during the delivery of a stone. Curling shoes have built in Sliders.
Split Time: When a curler times a rock from hog line to hog line. Effectively predicts where shots will come to a stop.
Spirit of Curling: the Most important principal of Curling.
Steal: The team with Hammer is expected to score. if you score without hammer it is a Steal.
Stone: Rock.
Sweeping: Using a brush to polish the ice in an effort to alter the action of the rock.
T
Takeout: (or Take) A shot that removes another rock from play.
Tap: See Raise.
Tee Line: A line passing through the center of the house, at right angles to the center line.
Thinking Time: Competitive games use Thinking time, an active timer for when rocks are not moving, to facilitate speed in during play.
Third: The player who delivers the team’s fifth an sixth rocks. Usually the Vice Skip.
Time: When a player asks for their Time after delivery, they are asking how long the rock took to travel between two points. Measurements can be from the back line to the hog line or from hog line to hog line [Split time]
V
Vice-skip: The Vice Skip (or simply Vice) holds the broom for the Skip during their delivery. They are usually the Third.
W
Weight: The amount of force applied to a rock to move it down the ice. Weight is described as Heavy, Light, or Good. A Weight call during a shot is the location the sweepers believe the shot is headed to. Often communicated by a number system. See Below.
Wide: A stone that is delivered outside the line of the skip’s brush. [see Narrow]
Calling Weights: How do they know where it will stop?
Diagram that shows the number weight calling system as it relates to the ice surface. The tee line has been contained within the button to avoid confusion.
During a game, players might call out numbers. There are several numbers that will be discussed by curlers during a given match. They are all intended for the same purpose, to convey the speed, or weight, of a given stone or intended stone.
With Stopwatches, players time the stone traveling from the backline to the hogline (delivery time). Players also time how long a rock takes to go from the near hogline to the far hogline (split time). Split times are more accurate than delivery times and are more universal between curlers. Usually these times are discussed between and before shots.
During a Draw shot, players call out whole numbers. These numbers indicate how far the sweepers think the rock in play will travel. See the Chart to the right.
- 1 to 3 indicates a rock in the free guard zone;
- 4 to 6 the rings in front of the tee line;
- 7 being on the button;
- 8 to 10 the rings behind the tee line.
With this system, the sweepers can communicate more effectively where they think the stone will end.
Players will often call out locations too, Guard, Tee, Top of the House, Back of the House are all references to depth where the stone will eventually stop. Players also refer to the sizes of the circles for each area. The house itself is 12 feet in diameter, so the '12 foot' is the outer most circle, The next is the '8 foot', then '4 foot' and the smallest in the middle is the 'Button'.
During a Hit, players yell the anticipated Split time of the stone. A '10', 10 seconds hogline to hogline, is a reasonable standard takeout weight for competent players..