What does bowler mean?
A bowler is, most commonly, a person who delivers the ball in cricket — the counterpart to the batsman and one of the two central roles of the sport. The word extends by analogy to participants in lawn bowls and ten-pin bowling. Separately, a bowler is a distinctive style of men's hat: a stiff, hard-felt hat with a rounded dome and a short, upturned brim, invented in mid-nineteenth-century England as durable headwear for gamekeepers on horseback. It quickly became fashionable among the British middle classes and eventually served as an icon of respectability, worn by clerks, bankers, and figures such as Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp and John Steed of The Avengers. In American English this same hat is called a derby, so the term 'bowler' in its hat sense reads as distinctly British. Whether describing a fast bowler taking wickets or a bowler hat perched on a gentleman's head, the word evokes tradition and a certain old-fashioned formality.
A person who bowls, especially the player who delivers the ball toward the batsman in cricket.
"The young bowler troubled the openers with her outswing."
In cricket commentary, modifiers distinguish types: fast bowler, spin bowler, opening bowler.
A hard felt hat with a domed crown and narrow brim, associated with British formality; called a derby in American English.
"Every morning he caught the train wearing a grey suit and a black bowler."
Regular plural, used both for multiple cricket players and for multiple hats.
"The attack relied on its three senior bowlers."
The bowler hat was invented in 1849 to protect gamekeepers' heads from low branches — and it went on to become the very symbol of the British gentleman.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bowler
Bowler began as an agent noun formed simply from the verb 'bowl', meaning to roll or deliver a ball, which itself derives from the Old French 'boule', a ball, ultimately from Latin 'bulla'. The cricketing sense arose as the natural name for the player who bowls. The hat takes its name from Thomas and William Bowler, London hatmakers who created it around 1849 for Edward Coke, a Norfolk landowner who wanted sturdy headwear for his gamekeepers. The same Latin root 'bulla' gives us related words such as 'bowl' and, more distantly, 'bull' in the sense of a papal document sealed with a bulla.
How bowler is actually used
In cricket contexts, 'bowler' is neutral and universal across British, Australian, and other Commonwealth English. In the sense of the hat, it carries distinctly British connotations of respectability and conservatism; American speakers overwhelmingly say 'derby' for the same hat. The word is standard register throughout, with no informal or formal restrictions.
Easily confused with bowler
A bowl is a round container or the act of rolling a ball, while a bowler is either the person who bowls or the style of hat.