This is by no means a fully comprehensive and exhaustive list of bowling terms but the main terms have been listed. If you wish to add some more terms to the list or indeed if you have your own colloquialisms regarding bowling please let us know. Please note that you may not be familiar with all of these terms as they are from all round the country

Absolute	a bowl that draws the shot when other bowls had previously been closer to the jack.
Back bowl	a bowl that is some distance behind the jack.
Backhand	the delivery of a right handed bowler bowling in a left handed direction from the mat with the bias inwards; and for a left handed bowler, in a right handed direction with the bias inwards.
Bank	the outer wall of the ditch above the level of the surface of the green.
Be Up	instruction for the player to reach jack length with their bowl.
Best back	the wood that is behind the jack and closest to the ditch. This bowl is never wasted and often proves valuable as head progresses. Skips often use this term sarcastically when they should know better
Bias	because of an intentional imbalance in the shaping of the bowl, it will divert from a straight line when in motion.
Block	a bowl delivered with enough pace to stop short of a target area. In the hope that it will prevent an opponent being able to play a certain shot.
Blocker	a bowl that rests in the draw or near centre line to hinder the opponent in drawing or firing at the jack or bowls in the head.
Bumper	a bowler who allows his bowl to drop on the green during delivery. This is bad for the green and makes for an inconsistent delivery
Burned	when the jack or bowl has been interfered with or displaced other than by a bowl in play.
Bowl	Usually a set of 4 identical bowls manufactured within strictly controlled specifications. Essential that all bowlers make a correct choice of bowls, which they can use with the greatest ease and comfort.
Cannon	a bowl that glances off one bowl onto another.
Centre line	an imaginary line that runs lengthwise down the centre of the rink
Chalked	when a toucher has been marked as such with chalk.
Count	the total of all the scoring bowls at the completion of an end.
Counter	a bowl conceded as a shot.
Covered	when the jack or bowl is guarded by another bowl in front.
Dead bowl	a bowl that is no longer part of the head.
Dead draw	a precise draw to the jack.
Dead end	an end that is deemed not to have been played. Caused by the jack being driven out of bounds.
Dead jack	when the jack has been driven by a bowl in play wholly beyond the boundary of the playing rink.
Dead length	an exact length drawn by the bowl to the jack or level with it.
Delivery	the releasing of the bowl from the players hand onto the green.
Ditch	the channel surrounding a flat green having as its inner boundary the face of the plinth and its outer boundary the outer wall up to the surface level of the green.
Ditcher	a bowl that runs into the ditch without touching the jack.
Draw	the effect that the bias has on the bowl. The path that the bowl should take when approaching the jack, taking into consideration, the effect of the bias.
Draw the shot	a request that a bowl should be delivered with correct weight and green to arrive exactly adjacent to the jack
Drive	a bowl delivered with force. The object being to break up the head / taking out the jack, bowl(s) / or running the jack into the ditch or causing a dead end.
Easy running green	a medium paced green.
Either hand	the choice of play given to the bowler by their skip: Either back hand or fore hand.
End	placing the mat and playing to the jack all the bowls of all players once in the same direction on a rink.
End rink	the nearest rink to the ditch on each side of the green.
Extra end	an extra end is played by each rink in a tied match when a definite winner needs to be resolved. If the match is still tied after the extra end, further ends are played until a result is obtained.
Fast green	a green made fast either naturally e.g. the sun, or man made e.g. close cutting and or rolling of the green
Feedin' the donkey	Irish colloquialism for taking too much grass as a line of delivery.
Fire	where a bowl is delivered at a very fast pace. See drive.
Firing	delivering a bowl with power in an attempt to displace the jack and or bowl(s).
Firm shot	a bowl that is delivered with more power than is needed for a draw but with less than would constitute a firing shot or drive.
Follow on	playing a bowl with enough strength to move bowls in front of the jack out of the way and then to carry on to the jack or other desired target.
Follow through	completing fully the delivery action of the bowl along the line of delivery.
Foot fault	when a bowler does not have at least one foot entirely within or over the parameters of the mat at the time of delivery.
Forcing shot	a reasonably strong delivery, halfway between a running bowl and a firing shot in terms of power.
Forehand	the delivery of a right handed bowler toward the jack in a right handed direction from the mat and in a left handed direction by a left handed bowler.
Four	a team of four players, each using 2 bowls. In a match, the leads delivers their 2 bowls then the seconds, then the thirds and finally the skips.
Grass	the amount of green to take to allow the biased bowl to turn and finish near the desired position.
Green	the total playing surface
Green line	the curved line that the bowl must travel from the mat to its objective
Hatful	the maximum possible score in any one end: 4 shots in singles, 8 in pairs and fours and 9 in triples. sometimes used when just a lot of shots scored even though it is not the maximum
Head	term used to describe the jack and whatever number of bowls played at any given time during the end.
Heavy	a bowl that is delivered with too much force for the required shot.
Heavy green	a slow green: can be caused by rain or a lack of cutting or rolling of the green.
Jack	the small ball (white or yellow) employed as the target to play to. see kitty
Jack high	when the bowl is level with the jack.
Kill the end	to force the jack out of the rink.
Kiss	when a bowl just touches the jack.
Kitty	slang name for the jack, aka the sweetie / bull.
Lead	the first player in a pairs, triples or rink who should lay the mat, roll the jack and deliver the first shot.
Live bowl	any bowl played that forms the head and lays within the parameters of the rink or in the ditch if it has been chalked as a toucher.
Long jack	near to or the greatest distance allowed from the front edge of the mat to the jack
Marker	the scorer in a singles match. In a rink match, the second player (home team) is responsible for recording the score within the game.
Mat	rectangle piece of material (usually rubber today), used at each end to bowl from.
Measure	device used to measure the distance between bowls and jack in order to determine who has the shot.
Narrow	when a bowl is played with too little green to allow for the effect of the bias. (tight) The bowl will consequently run away from the jack.
One in One out	When the team holding shot delivers a bowl which knocks the shot bowl out of the count while the delivered bowl takes its place as the shot bowl.
Open hand	the side of the jack that has no or few bowls on it compared to the other side.
Opening the head	displacing bowls in front of the jack in order to open a channel so the bowler then has a chance at drawing the shot.
Open jack	a jack in full view.
Pace	the amount of force with which the bowl is deliverd to execute a particular shot
Pace of the green	refers to whether the green is slow or heavy
Pairs	where 2 players constitute a team: a lead and a skip.
Pinching a bowl	bowling narrow.
Possession of a rink	applies to the time when a player steps onto the mat until their bowl comes to rest after delivery.
Pulling a bowl	delivering a narrow bowl by pulling your hand across your body instead of following though.
Push and rest	the bowling of a bowl of sufficient pace that it pushes a bowl from its position so that its position is taken by the delivered bowl
Rest this bowl out	the bowling of a bowl with sufficient pace to push a bowl sufficiently from its position
Resting	when a bowl lies against an oppositions bowl.
Rink	the rectangular space on the green between the boundary markings upon which the play is confined.
Rub off	a bowl which during its course come tto light contact with another bowl ao that the line of the bowl is affected
Rub	term employed when a bowl is diverted from its original line of passage by an obstacle on / in the green.
Running weight	a bowl delivered with enough power to remove a target before running on to its desired end position.
Second	the second player in a rink. Has the duty of recording the score after each end has been played.
Second bowl	the bowl which finishes nearest to the jack other than the shot bowl
Short end	when the lead throws the jack at the beginning of an end to the minimum distance of 23 metres.
Short jack	near to or the shortest distance allowed from the front edge of the mat to the jack
Shot	the bowl that is nearest to the jack at any stage of the head
Shot bowl	the bowl nearest the jack.
Shots	the number of bowls of a single player or team nearest to the jack.
Shoulder of the green	that point on the green where the bowl begins to curve inwards towards its objective.
Singles	a game between 2 players, usually with 4 bowls per person but sometimes played with 2 bowls each.
Slow green	a slow green: can be caused by rain or a lack of cutting or rolling of the green.
Split these bowls	a request to the bowler to bowl a bowl of sufficient weight that it forces apart other bowls and carries on beyond the target
Stoner	when the delivered bowl rests on the jack.
Strong bowl	when a bowl overruns the jack.
Stopper	a bowl delivered with enough pace to stop short of a target area. In the hope that it will prevent an opponent being able to play a certain shot.
Stance	the position adopted by the bowler on the mat prior to delivery.
Take out	a bowl that displaces an opponent's shot bowl, normally to capture shot(s).
Take the green or land	ensuring that the bowler delivers their bowl on a wide enough line in order for the bias to work to its full extent so the bowl finishes in the desired position.
Third	the third player in a rink. The third does the measuring, determines how many shots lie and is in charge of the head while the skip is on the mat.
Toucher	a bowl that has been delivered and touches the jack before coming to rest. The toucher is chalked as such, and will remain a live bowl even if displaced to the ditch during the remainder of the end. (It is also important to note that a bowl knocked onto the jack from the delivered bowl is not deemed to be a toucher). Also the last bowl to be delivered at the head if it falls after coming to rest within 30 seconds and touches the jack it is also a toucher.
Toucher on the green	a toucher (see toucher) which remains on the green
Toucher in the ditch	a toucher (see toucher) which is in the ditch and within the confines of the rink
Trail the jack	a bowl played in order to move the jack to another position on the rink
Trailing	a term used when a bowl moves the jack to a new position while the bowl stays with the jack.
Trial end	One trial end in each direction is allowed before the match commences. Therefore players have 2 ends in which to gauge the speed and line of the green.
Triples	a team of three players with three bowls each. The lead plays their 3, then the second and finally the skip.
Tucked in	when the jack is behind the bowls and not visible from the mat.
Umpire	person appointed to adjudicate on any query or dispute which may occur during the course of the match.
Using the mat	movement of the mat ( within the limits of the laws) for the purposes of lengthening or shortening the length of the jack.
Using the mat	offsetting your stance on the mat so that green line is changed to enable short bowls to be avoided.
Weight	the amount of force with which the bowl is deliverd to execute a particular shot
Wick	when a shot is played and the delivered bowl deflects of another toward the jack.
Wick off	a bowl travelling at certain pace which come into an angled contact with another bowl so that the course of the moving bowl is definitely altered.
Wide	making too much of an allowance for the bias (taking too much grass) resulting in the bowl ending wide of its target.
Wrecked	A shot that is ruined by contact with a short bowl
Wrest this bowl out	the bowling of a bowl with sufficient pace to push a bowl sufficiently from its position
Yard on	delivered with the intent of pushing out the opponents bowl and resting close to the jack.