Some Common Euchre Terms

Bagging - Not naming trump even though you have a strong hand.  Also known as Sand-bagging.

Barn - Also In the barn - having a score of nine in a euchre game.

Bidding - another term for naming trump.  Also, in certain forms of bid euchre you have to declare the number of tricks you will take. 

Bower - The jack of the trump suit (right bower) and the jack of the same color as the trump suit (left bower).  The two highest cards in the deck respectively.

Buried - term used to describe card that is in the grave.

Calling - or Calling Trump.  The same as naming trump, declaring trump or bidding.

Defense - the team that did not name trump.

Donation - Ordering up trump into your opponent's hand with the expectation of getting euchred.  This is done to protect a lead against a possible loner.

Drawing Trump - Leading with trump in order to force the opponents to play their trump, limiting their ability to trump you later in the hand.  Also known as Pulling trump.

Euchre - 1.  World's greatest card game.  2.  Failing to take 3 or more tricks after naming trump.  

Follow suit - Playing a card of the same suit that was led.

Going alone - Attempting to take all five tricks in a hand without the assistance of a partner.  The partner simply folds his hand, and each trick consists of just 3 cards.

Grave - The down cards not used on the hand.  Also known as the kitty or the talon.

Laydown loner - A hand so strong that it is not possible to lose a single trick.

Lead - Being the first player to play a card in a trick.  Also, being to the dealer's left as you will have lead on the first trick.

Loner - A hand strong enough to try to take all 5 tricks without help from a partner.

Naming trump - Selecting the suit that will be trump for that hand.  Also known as Calling trump, Declaring trump or bidding.

Next - The suit of the same color as the up card.

No ace, no face - a rules variation wherein a hand of all nines and tens is considered a misdeal and the cards are re-dealt.

Order up - Naming trump by instructing the dealer to take the up card.

Pass - Declining to name trump.

Picked up - The action of the dealer taking the up card.

Renege - Failing to follow the suit that was led when the player has a card of that suit.

Seat - The position of the players in a hand.  The player to the left of the dealer is in first seat.  The dealer's partner is in second seat.  The player to the dealer's right is in third seat.  The dealer is in fourth seat.

Short-suited - Having a void in a particular suit.  

Skunked - Losing the game without scoring a single point.   A source of abject humiliation and the object of taunts and derision by the winning team.

Slough - Playing a card you know will not win the trick, usually because your partner has already played a strong card or to create a void.

Stick the Dealer - A rules variation wherein if trump is not named by any other player then the dealer is forced to name trump regardless of the strength of his hand.

Talon - See Grave above.

Trick - One round of four cards played, one from each player.  There are 5 tricks in a euchre hand.

Trump - Suit designated as having the highest value for the hand.  The lowest card of the trump suit is of higher value than the highest cards of the other suits.

Turned down - Opposite of Picked up.  The dealer declines to make the up card suit the trump suit and turns the up card over so that it is face down.

Up card - The card on top of the grave that the dealer turns up.  If trump is named on the first round then the dealer will place the up card in his hand.

Void - The absence of a suit in a player's hand.  Also known as being short-suited.

Walker - An unexpected non-trump trick.  If you lead a non-trump queen and it takes the trick, you had a queen walker.