invitation

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French invitation, from Latin invitatio. Displaced native Old English laþung.

noun

1. The act of inviting; solicitation; the requesting of a person's company.
   an invitation to a party, to a dinner, or to visit a friend
2. A document or verbal message conveying an invitation.
   We need to print off fifty invitations for the party.
3. Allurement; enticement.
4. (fencing) A line that is intentionally left open to encourage the opponent to attack.
5. (Christianity) The brief exhortation introducing the confession in the Anglican communion-office.
6. (bridge) A bid that tells one's partner that game or slam is likely if their hand is at the strong end of what they have indicated.
   I assume also that opener would have shown no interest in slam by either bidding 4NT or 50 after the slam invitation of 46. 2001, Matthew Granovetter, Pamela Granovetter, The Best of Bridge Today Digest, page 113
   To any other invitation made by the captain, acceptance or refusal of the invitation is exclusively a question of points within the range advertised in the opening statement, and the invitation is always in the last called suit. 2011, Gerard Cohen, Bridge Is a Conversation: Part I: the Auction, page 71