card game originating in Spain and popular late 17c. and early 18c., 1650s, from French hombre, ombre (17c.), or directly from Spanish hombre, literally "man" (see hombre). So called from an expression (translatable as "I am the man") spoken in the course of the game. Played usually by three persons with a pack of 40 cards (the 8s, 9s, and 10s being discarded), it was supersedes as the fashionable game by quadrille.