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Baize
 
 
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Baize is a coarse woollen (or in cheaper variants cottonCotton

Cotton is a soft fiber that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant , a shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regi...
) cloth, sometimes called "feltFelt

HistoryFelt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers....
" in American EnglishAmerican English

American English is the dialect of the English language used mostly in the United States of America....
 based on a similarity in appearance. It is most often used on snooker and billiards tables to cover the and .

The surface finish of baize is not very fine (and thus increases friction, perceptibly slowing the ballsBilliard ball

Billiard balls are used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker....
 down, from a player's perspective). Baize is available with and without a perceptible napNap (textile)

Primarily, nap is the raised surface on certain kinds of cloth, such as velvet....
; snookerSnooker

Snooker is a billiards sport that is played on a large baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in ...
, in which understanding of the effects of the nap is part of the game, uses the nappy variety, while pocket billiardsPocket billiards

Pocket billiards is a vague sub-classification of the broader category of games known as Billiards....
 (pool) and carom billiards use the napless type. Table baize is available in many grades, with pool hallPool hall

A pool hall is a place where people get together for playing pool, snooker or billiards....
s preferring smooth, "fast" worstedWorsted

Worsted is the name of both a yarn, usually made from wool, and the cloth made from this yarn....
 woollen baize, while rather more fuzzy, "slow" cloth is common used for .

For gaming use it is traditionally dyeDye

A dye can generally be described as a colored substance that has an affinity to the to which it is being applied....
d green, in mimicry of a lawn (see Cue sport, "History"), thus the common phrase "the green baize", a metaphoric way to refer to snooker itself. Today, a wide variety of colours are now used for tables (for other uses such as clothing it has always been available in other colours).

The word is related to the cloth term "bays" (sometimes encountered as "bays and says").

See also