Terminology of Pool

Everything has its terminologies, and without understanding the terminologies nothing will be understood.
Of course, Cue sports also have their own terminologies.

8 Ball: as the name specifies it is a game of eight balls, in which the last ball has to be pocketed after the player has put all the seven object balls belonging to him in the pockets. It is black in color with the number 8 written on it in a white circle.
9 Ball: Same as eight ball it is the last ball that has to be pocketed but this time the ball is the one with a 9 on it.
Billiards: It is referred by many names such as cue sports, carom games. The term billiards generally refers to all the games played on a billiard table it could be with or without a pocket, although some people take billiards to mean carom games only while they use pool for pocket games.
Black Ball: In snooker all the balls are of different point values, the highest of being the black ball which worth's seven points. It is numbered "7" in snooker and "8" in eight ball.
Blue Ball: It is the blue colored ball which worth's 5 points.
Ball in hand: It provides the option of placing the cue ball anywhere on the table before making a shot. This is mostly granted to a player when the opposite player has committed a foul according to the rules.
Cloth: the cloth covering the surface and the rails of the playing table. The cloth is green colored chosen to give a grass like effect.
Cross-side: Shot that rebounds from the cushion and into the side pocket.
Cue ball: Typically a white color ball used in all cue sports that a player hits with a cue stick. Also referred to as the white ball, whitey or the rock.
Cue: A stick which is usually 55-60 inch in length, tip made of material with leather on the end. This is used to propel billiards balls.
Dead Rail: A cushion that has lost its ability to properly rebound the ball or is not firmly attached to the frame.
Double Hit: A foul shot in which the cue sticks tip contacts the cue ball twice during a single stroke. It is often done when the cue ball is too close to an object ball or cushion, as there is no time left to move the cue stick because of the quick rebound of the cue ball.
Draw: Also known as back spin. A shot made to spin the ball by hitting it below its midpoint causing it to spin backwards.
Slide: Slide basically refers to a cue ball that is generally sliding across the cloth. The ball must accurately be hit in the middle in order to enable the cue ball to skid along the cloth. The cue ball will be able to slide for a long time before starting its roll if the ball is hit with a lot of pressure.

Some techniques:

Sidespin: It is known by many different names such as side, left right, check side and running side. In this technique the cue ball is hit on the left or right center, this causes the ball to spin and achieve the targeted shot. Mostly Sidespin is a common cause of missing shots.
Follow: is also known as top spin or only top. It is used to increase the rotational movement of the cue ball so that even when it touches the object ball it does not stop abruptly but instead keeps moving on. The cue ball is hit above the midpoint of its vertical plane as it faces the shooter.
Follow also increases the distance of cue ball traveled both before and after the contact with the object ball. Follow also includes a technique Force Follow in which the cue ball goes charging onto the object balls. This shot is useful in trick shots as well as position play.
Draw: Draw is sometimes called back spin or bottom. The cue is hit below the midpoint of its vertical plane, this enables the cue ball to spin in a reverse direction and as soon as the cue ball hits the object ball it then draws back.
Slide: Slide basically refers to a cue ball that is generally sliding across the cloth. The ball must accurately be hit in the middle in order to enable the cue ball to skid along the cloth. The cue ball will be able to slide for a long time before starting its roll if the ball is hit with a lot of pressure. The cue ball must be hit with the right degree to accomplish this shot.
Throw: refers to an object ball moving away from the point of impact. If a cue ball is hit using the sidespin technique than the object ball will be �thrown� in the opposite direction side of the cue ball. The direction of the throw is completely dependent on the direction the cue ball hits the object ball from. Generally, the less force the cue ball has at the time of contact with the object ball the more that throw will affect the object ball.

Pool Terminology