Meld

To meld is to put a valid combination of cards down on the table, and a meld is that combination itself: usually either a run of consecutive cards in one suit, or a group of the same rank across different suits. Rummy games are built around this — most of a hand is spent drawing and discarding, quietly working toward the moment you can lay your cards down and have them actually count.

Some games let you meld the instant you’re ready and score right away; others make you hold everything until the end of the round, so nobody knows what you’ve been building until you show it. Either way, melding rewards the same instinct as set collection does in other games — seeing the shape of a good hand before the cards fully cooperate, and being patient enough to wait for it.