sport Hear it!

sport Definition

sport (spôrt)

noun

  1. any activity or experience that gives enjoyment or recreation; pastime; diversion
  2. such an activity, esp. when competitive, requiring more or less vigorous bodily exertion and carried on, sometimes as a profession, according to some traditional form or set of rules, whether outdoors, as football, golf, etc., or indoors, as basketball, bowling, etc.
  3. fun or play
    1. an object of ridicule; laughingstock
    2. a thing or person buffeted about, as though a plaything
  5. ☆ Informal a gambler
  6. Informal
    1. a person who is sportsmanlike, easygoing, or companionable be a sport!
    2. a person judged according to his ability to take loss, defeat, teasing, etc. a good (or poor) sport
  7. ☆ Informal a pleasure-loving, showy person; flashy fellow
  8. Obsolete amorous trifling or sexual play
  9. Biol. a plant or animal showing some marked variation from the normal type, usually as a result of mutation

Etymology: ME sporte, aphetic for disport

transitive verb

  1. Informal to wear or display, esp. with unnecessary show to sport a loud tie
  2. Obsolete to amuse (oneself, etc.)

intransitive verb

  1. to play or frolic
  2. to engage in a sport or sports
    1. to joke or jest
    2. to trifle, dally, or play (with)
    3. to mock or ridicule someone or something
  4. Biol. to vary markedly from the normal type; mutate

adjective

  1. sporting (sense )
  2. suitable for informal, casual wear; not dressy a sport coat

sport Related Forms
sport′er noun sport′·ful adjective sport′·fully adverb
sport Idioms

in sport

or for sport

in joke or jest; not in earnest

make sport of

to mock or ridicule; poke fun at

sport Synonyms

sport

n.

  1. Entertainment

    diversion, recreation, play, amusement, merrymaking, jollification, festivity, revelry, revel, Saturnalia, carnival, pastime, pleasure, enjoyment; see also entertainment 2, fun, game 1.

  2. A joke

    raillery, pleasantry, mockery, jest, jesting, mirth, joking, mummery, antics, trifling, tomfoolery, nonsense, jollity, laughter, drollery, escapade, practical joke.

  3. Athletic or competitive amusement

    game, competition, contest, athletic event, amateur sport, professional sport.

    Sports, sense 3, include: hunting, shooting, horse racing, automobile racing, running, dog racing, cockfighting, bronco busting, bullfighting, polo, horseback riding; fishing, angling, basketball, golf, bowling, billiards, pool, tennis, squash, handball, racquetball, table tennis, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, acrobatics, football, baseball, track and field, cricket, lacrosse, ice hockey, field hockey, skating, skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing; fencing, jumping, boxing, wrestling, hang gliding, parasailing, parachuting; windsurfing, diving, surfing, snorkeling, water skiing, swimming, canoeing, kayaking, yachting; hiking, camping, backpacking, rock climbing, ice climbing; bicycling, motorcycling, Rollerblading, in-line skating, skateboarding; weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting.

  4. *A person with sporting instincts

    gambler, irresponsible fellow, horsey person, rake, one of the fast set; see also clown, rascal.

for<strong> <em>or</em> </strong>in sport

jokingly, in fun, jestingly; see humorously.

sport* Synonyms

sport*

v.

don, have on, be dressed in; see wear 1.

sport Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • rowing: We passionately believe that all partners can benefit enormously from the sport of indoor rowing.
  • wildfowling: Now that all the hype and the fireworks have died down, what does the new age hold for the sport of wildfowling?
  • triathlon: Chester Tri aims to be a friendly club, and to help members enjoy the sport of triathlon.

Adjective modifier

  • outdoor: There are three major trends at work in our market: Outdoor sports in general and rock climbing in particular are gaining exposure.
  • competitive: We need to offer things for children who don't want to be involved in competitive sport.
  • equestrian: It has a growing number of Sports Academies, currently including football, netball, rugby and various equestrian sports including modern pentathlon.
  • chosen: RAG - Raise and Give, Red - Sporting award for reaching an ability of international standard within your chosen sport.

Modifies a noun

  • hall: At about 11 o'clock the juniors then go to the gym, pool or sports hall for some exercise.
  • club: I also take an interest in the local sports clubs in the area.
  • facility: The University is planning to provided an extended range of sport facilities in the near future.
  • car: Whether you own a prestige sports car or a hot hatch; we can find the right cover at the right price.
  • enthusiast: There are a small number of providers in Northern Ireland who offer packages for field sports enthusiasts.
  • psychology: He is also assisting in the delivery of sport psychology on talented athlete programs for a number of Sports Colleges.

Noun used with modifier

  • winter: For those who love winter sports, the hotel provides a shuttle bus service to the ski center during the winter months.
  • motor: These include running, winter and water sports, cycling, golf, fishing, motor sports and squash.
  • spectator: Indeed, these are encouraged, making the game an exciting spectator sport at the same time.
  • fantasy: Welcome to FISO's bi-monthly newsletter which is sent out to over 1,000 subscribed fantasy sports fans.
  • water: Kite Surfing is the fastest growing water sport in the world.
  • adventure: ASH - Surfing Equipment We have just set up a brand new adventure sports photo gallery.
sport Quotes

Detested sport, That owes its pleasure to another's pain.

—Cowper,William

'Justice'was done, and the President ofthe Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport withTess.

—Hardy,Thomas

   For as concerning football playing, I protest unto you it may be rather called a friendly kind of fight than a play or recreation, a bloody or murmuring practice than a fellowly sport or pastime.

—Stubbes, Philip

'Cricket,'said Raffles,'like everything else, is a good enough sport until you discover a better. As a source of excitement it isn't in it with other things you wot of Bunny, and theinvoluntarycomparison becomes a bore. What's the satisfaction of taking a man's wicket when you want his spoons?' 414

—Hornung, E(rnest) W(illiam)

My idea of a contact sport was chess.

—Hughes, Robert Studley Forrest

In love as in sport, the amateur status must be strictly maintained.

—Graves, Robert von Ranke

No physical activity is so vain as boxing. A man gets into the ring to attract admiration. In no sport, therefore, can you be more humiliated.

—Mailer, Norman Kingsley

I love sport because I love life, and sport is one of the basic joys of life.

—Yevtushenko,YevegenyAleksandrovich

Of alle chevalry to chose, the chef thyng alosed Is the lel layk of luf, the lettrure of armes. Choosing from all chivalrous actions, the chief things to praise Are the loyal sport of love and the lore of arms.

—Anonymous

Stretchpantsöthegarmentthat madeskiing a spectator sport.

—Anonymous

Quand je me jou  e« a'   ma chatte, qui s c° ait si elle passe son temps de moy plus que je ne fay d'elle? When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?

—Montaigne, Michel Eyquem de

The national sport of England is obstacle-racing. People fill their rooms with useless and cumbersome furniture, and spend the rest of their lives trying to dodge it.

—Tree, Sir Herbert (Draper) Beerbohm

Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow-creatures is amusing in itself.

—Froude,James Anthony

The onlyathletic sport I mastered was backgammon.

—Jerrold, Douglas William

Yet, when confinement's lingering hour was done, Our sport, our studies, and our souls were one: Together we impell'd the flying ball; Together waited in our tutor's hall; Together join'd in cricket's manly toil.

—Rochdale

Politics is a blood sport.

—Bevan, Aneurin

I was not meant for the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here running people down is considered sport. 332

—Foster,Vince(nt W,Jr)

We are making politics a spectator sport in which our only duty is to vote somebody into office and then retire to the grandstands.

—Gergen, David Richmond

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?

—Austen,Jane

Sport, rightly conceived, is an occupation carried out by the whole man. It renders the body a more perfect instrument of the soul and at the same time makes the soul itself a finer instrument of the whole man in seeking forTruth and in transmitting it to others. In this way it helps a man to reach that End to which all other ends are subordinate, the service and the greater glory of his Creator.

—Pius XII real name Eugenio Pacelli

   Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting†there are quite enough realcauses oftroublealready, and weneed not add to them by encouraging young men to kickeach other on the shins amid the roars of infuriated spectators.

—Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair

No man likes to see his emotions the sport of a merry- go-round of skittishness.

—Hardy,Thomas

College football is a sport that bears thesame relation to education that bullfighting does to agriculture.

—Hubbard, Elbert Green

Man is to be held only by the slightest chains; with the idea that he can break them at pleasure, he submits to them in sport.

—Edgeworth, Maria

While Spring shall pour his showers, as oft he wont, And bathe thy breathing tresses, meekest Eve! While Summer loves to sport Beneath thy lingering light; While sallow Autumn fills thy lap with leaves, Or Winter, yelling through the troublous air, Affrights thy shrinking train, And rudely rends thy robes.

—Collins,William

   'Tis love in love that makes the sport.

—Suckling, SirJohn

Hunting the author, painter and musician is a traditional and popular sport. In this country poet-baiting at an early stage assumed the place of bull-baiting.

—Sitwell, Sir (Francis) Osbert