n. [ F., properly, a little wheel or ball. See Rouleau, Roll. ] 1. A game of chance, in which a small ball is made to move round rapidly on a circle divided off into numbered red and black spaces, the one on which it stops indicating the result of a variety of wagers permitted by the game. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Fine Arts) (a) A small toothed wheel used by engravers to roll over a plate in order to order to produce rows of dots. (b) A similar wheel used to roughen the surface of a plate, as in making alterations in a mezzotint. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Geom.) the curve traced by any point in the plane of a given curve when the latter rolls, without sliding, over another fixed curve. See Cycloid, and Epycycloid. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A small toothed wheel used to make short incisions in paper, as a sheet of postage stamps to facilitate their separation. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. To make short incisions in with a roulette; to separate by incisions made with a roulette; as, to roulette a sheet of postage stamps. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(a) An act of bravado played by loading one bullet into one chamber of a revolver in which the cylinder has five or six positions, spinning the cylinder (thus moving the bullet randomly to one of the six positions of the cylinder), pointing the gun to one's head, and pulling the trigger. If the bullet is in firing position, the "player" is usually killed. Such a "game" may be played on a dare, or, in some places, as part of a gamble. (b) (Fig.) Any dangerous act resembling Russian roulette in the acceptance of a high risk of serious negative consequences, usually unnecessarily. “The congress is playing Russian roulette with the economy by enacting such large tax reductions without spending cuts.” [ PJC ]