# Baize

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Coarse woollen cloth, similar in texture to felt

For other uses, see [Baize (disambiguation)](/source/Baize_(disambiguation)).

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A baize-covered snooker table

**Baize** is a coarse [woollen](/source/Woollen) (or in cheaper variants [cotton](/source/Cotton)) [cloth](/source/Cloth), similar in texture to [felt](/source/Felt), but more durable.

## History

A mid-17th-century English [ditty](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ditty) – much quoted in histories of ale and beer brewing in England – refers to 1525:

Hops, heresies, bays, and beer; Came into England all in one year.

*Heresies* refers to the Protestant [Reformation](/source/Reformation), while *bays* is the [Elizabethan](/source/Elizabethan_English) spelling for *baize*[1] (though *bay* and *baize* eventually came to describe two similar but distinguishable types of cloth, as described below).

## Applications

Baize is often used on [billiard tables](/source/Billiard_tables) to cover the [slate](/source/Glossary_of_cue_sports_terms#slate) and [cushions](/source/Glossary_of_cue_sports_terms#cushions), and is also used on different kinds of gaming tables such as those for [blackjack](/source/Blackjack), [baccarat](/source/Baccarat), [craps](/source/Craps) and other [casino](/source/Casino) games. It is also found as a writing surface, particularly on 19th century [pedestal desks](/source/Pedestal_desk).

The surface finish of baize is coarse, thus increasing rolling resistance and perceptibly slowing [billiard balls](/source/Billiard_ball). Baize is available with and without a perceptible [nap](/source/Nap_(fabric)). [Snooker](/source/Snooker), in which understanding nap effects is part of the game, uses the nappy variety, while [pool](/source/Pool_(cue_sports)) and [carom billiards](/source/Carom_billiards) use the napless type.

For gaming use, baize is traditionally [dyed](/source/Dye) green, in mimicry of a lawn *(see [Cue sport, "History"](/source/Cue_sport#History))*, though wide variety of table colours have become accepted. [Bay](/source/Bay_(cloth)) was similar material to baize, but lighter in weight and with a shorter nap.[2]

Baize

		- A closeup of the weave of [worsted](/source/Worsted) baize. This particular sample is Simonis 760, a high-end [pool](/source/Pool_(cue_sports)) cloth; it is [napless](/source/Nap_(textile)), unlike [snooker](/source/Snooker) cloth.

		- A similar cloth sample as in the previous image, from further away and with a [pool ball](/source/Billiard_ball) for scale.

## Idioms and catchphrases

- "Let's get the boys on the baize!" has been a [catchphrase](/source/Catchphrase) of [BBC TV](/source/BBC_Television) [snooker](/source/Snooker) presenter [Rob Walker](/source/Rob_Walker_(sports_announcer)) since 2008.[3]

- At one time, "the green baize door" (a door to which cloth had been tacked to deaden noise) in a house separated the servants' quarters from the family's living quarters;[4] hence the phrase's usage as a [metonym](/source/Metonymy) for [domestic service](/source/Domestic_servant). Moving men in the children's book *[The Railway Children](/source/The_Railway_Children)* wore green baize aprons.

## See also

- *[Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire](/source/Billy_the_Kid_and_the_Green_Baize_Vampire)*

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Marmor, Paula Kate (22 March 2008). ["Good English Ale"](http://elizabethan.org/compendium/75.html). *Life in Elizabethan England*. Retrieved 20 February 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Montgomery, Florence M. (1984). [*Textiles in America 1650–1870*](https://archive.org/details/textilesinameric00mont/page/152/mode/2up?q=Bay+and+say). New York / London: Norton. p. 152. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-393-01703-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-393-01703-8) – via Internet Archive. Heaton distinguished between bay and baize: 'the bay was light, baise is heavy and with a long nap' (*Letter Books of Joseph Holroyd*, p. 11n).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Reason, Mark (4 May 2008). ["Ronnie O'Sullivan greater than Tiger Woods"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/snooker/2299341/Ronnie-OSullivan-greater-than-Tiger-Woods.html). *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)*. Retrieved 5 May 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Greene, Graham](/source/Graham_Greene) (1976) [1935]. *The Basement Room*. Penguin. p. 125. Also republished as *The Fallen Idol*.

## External links

Look up ***[baize](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/baize)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Baize](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Baize).

- ["Baize"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Baize). *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). 1911.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Baize](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baize) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baize?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.