rugby

en-noun

rugby (countable and uncountable, plural rugbies)

Rugby School
Rugby World Cup
University College London

→ Afrikaans: rugby

→ Catalan: rugbi

→ Cebuano: rugby

→ Czech: rugby, ragby

→ Danish: rugby

→ Dutch: rugby

→ French: rugby (see there for further descendants)

→ German: Rugby

→ Hindi: रग्बी (ragbī)

→ Irish: rugbaí

→ Italian: rugby

→ Japanese: ラグビー (ragubī)

→ Korean: 럭비 (reokbi)

→ Portuguese: rugby, râguebi, rúgbi

→ Russian: регби (regbi)

→ Serbo-Croatian: rȁgbi, ра̏гби

→ Spanish: rugby

→ Thai: รักบี้ (rák-bîi)

→ Welsh: rygbi

From the name of Rugby School in Rugby, in Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom, where the modern game was developed in the 19th century. The place name Rugby is attested in the Domesday Book as Old English Rocheberie (probably equivalent to rook (“Corvus frugilegus, a bird of the crow family”) + -by (suffix indicating a village or town)), possibly from *Hrōcebyriġ, dative singular of *Hrōceburh, from hrōc (“rook”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to crow”)) + burh, burg (“castle, fort, stronghold; city; town”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“hill, mountain; high, lofty; to rise”)).

der

The scrum is a distinctive element of rugby.

The two rugbies split following a debate about amateurism.

A form of football in which players can hold or kick an ovoid ball; rugby football. The ball cannot be handled forwards and points are scored by touching the ball to the ground in the area past the opponent's territory or by kicking the ball between goalposts and over a crossbar.

rugby

闘球 (とうきゅう, tōkyū, literally “fighting ball”)


looper

With one out and runners on second and third, Cavan Biggio hit a looper up the middle that eluded hustling shortstop Tim Anderson in short centre field.

2022 June 22, Jay Cohen, “Blue Jays' woes continue as Harrison's walk-off single in 12th inning wins it for White Sox”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 2022-06-25:

(baseball) Synonym of blooper (“a fly ball that is weakly hit just over the infielders”).


duff

en-noun

duff (countable and uncountable, plural duffs)

Uncertain; probably related to Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).


duff

en-verb

duff (third-person singular simple present duffs, present participle duffing, simple past and past participle duffed)

duffs (present singular third-person)
duffing (participle present)
duffed (participle past)
duffed (past)

Originally thieves' slang; probably a back-formation from duffer.

(US, golf) To hit the ground behind the ball.


bunt

en-noun

bunt (countable and uncountable, plural bunts)

Unknown. Perhaps a nasalised variant of butt.

The bunt was fielded cleanly.

(baseball, softball) A ball that has been intentionally hit softly so as to be difficult to field, sometimes with a hands-spread batting stance or with a close-hand, choked-up hand position. No swinging action is involved.

The manager will likely call for a bunt here.

(baseball, softball) The act of bunting.


bunt

en-verb

bunt (third-person singular simple present bunts, present participle bunting, simple past and past participle bunted)

bunts (present singular third-person)
bunting (participle present)
bunted (participle past)
bunted (past)

Jones bunted the ball.

(transitive, baseball) To intentionally hit softly with a hands-spread batting stance.

Jones bunted.

(intransitive, baseball) To intentionally hit a ball softly with a hands-spread batting stance.


jigger

→ Catalan: gigre

From jig + -er (agent suffix). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary suggests a possible link to Old High German gīga (“fiddle”).

(golf, dated) A golf club used to play low flying shots to the putting green from short distances.


lolly

en-noun

lolly (countable and uncountable, plural lollies)


return

en-verb

return (third-person singular simple present returns, present participle returning, simple past and past participle returned)

returns (present singular third-person)
returning (participle present)
returned (participle past)
returned (past)

From Middle English returnen, retornen, from Anglo-Norman returner, from Old French retourner, retorner, from Medieval Latin retornare (“to turn back”), from re- + tornare (“to turn”). Compare beturn.

der

The player couldn't return the serve because it was so fast.

(tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.

връщам

tennis: to bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve

(cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.

palauttaa

cricket: to throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper


return

en-noun

return (countable and uncountable, plural returns)

(American football) The act of catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.

(cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.


rugger

rugger (countable and uncountable, plural ruggers)

From rugby (“Rugby football”) + -er (Oxford “-er”). Compare contemporary soccer, from Association football. Both words seem to have originated at the University of Oxford during the 1880s. See Oxford -er.

That . . . . . . may for once put a full Rugger team in the field

1886 November 10, A. Macaulay, “The Advance of Science”, in The Oxford Magazine, page 356:

Golf is perhaps seven or eight years old in Oxford, ... football, seu Rugger, sive Soccer, not more than sixteen or seventeen.

1888 February 15, “Charley Symonds”, in The Oxford Magazine, page 224:

Rugger (schools), the Rugby game at football

1890, Albert Barrère, Charles Leland, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, volume 2, Ballantyne, page 191:

It was clear to me that I was dealing with a lunatic, so I thought it well before I went any further in the matter to call upon my friend Malone, whom I had known since the old days when we both played Rugger for Richmond.

1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed:

To complete the picture of the main line passenger workings, mention must be made of the excursions for International rugger and soccer matches. [...] For the rugger matches especially, a dozen or so packed trains from West Wales are put on [...]

1959 April, William Jones, John Hodge, “Resorts for Railfans - 28 Cardiff”, in Trains Illustrated, page 210:


behind

From Middle English behinde, behinden, from Old English behindan (“on the back side of, behind”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihindan, *bihindini (“on the back side of, in the rear of, behind”), from Proto-West Germanic *bi- + *hindō (“the hind side, back part”), equivalent to be- + hind. Compare Old Saxon bihindan (“behind”, adverb), Middle High German behinter (“behind; back”).

noncog

A roar from ten thousand throats go up,
For we've kicked another behind.

1880, “The Opening Ball”, in G. Lehmann, editor, Comic Australian Verse, 1975, quoted in G. A. Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, second edition, Sydney University Press, published 1985, →ISBN:

Australian rules football
Australian rules football

(Australian rules football) A one-point score.


snick

en-verb

snick (third-person singular simple present snicks, present participle snicking, simple past and past participle snicked)

snicks (present singular third-person)
snicking (participle present)
snicked (participle past)
snicked (past)

(cricket) To hit (the ball) with the edge of the bat, causing a slight deflection.


snick

(cricket) A small deflection of the ball off the side of the bat; often carries to the wicketkeeper for a catch.


stymie

From the meaning in golf (where the stymie ball blocks the other ball from "seeing" the hole), perhaps from Scots stymie, stimie (“person with poor eyesight”), from Scots stime (“the least bit”). Or from Scots styme (“tiny bit, glimmer”) as in se nocht ane styme (“not to see a glimmer (of something)”). If so, it is a doublet of stime.

(golf) A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green (abolished 1952).


stymie

stymie (third-person singular simple present stymies, present participle stymieing or stymying, simple past and past participle stymied)

stymies (present singular third-person)
stymieing (participle present)
stymying (participle present)
stymied (participle past)
stymied (past)

(golf) To bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie.


plumb

en-adj

plumb (comparative more plumb, superlative most plumb)

more plumb (comparative)
most plumb (superlative)

From Middle English plumbe, plumme, from Old French *plombe, from Latin plumba, plural of plumbum.

(cricket) Describing an LBW where the batsman is hit on the pads directly in front of their wicket and should be given out.


rondo

en-noun

rondo (countable and uncountable, plural rondos)

Borrowed from Italian rondo, from French rondeau. Doublet of rondeau.

And four years after Pep from Catalonia first clapped eyes on Phil from Stockport across a crowded rondo, here finally was the consummation.

2020 August 7, Jonathan Liew, “Phil Foden stars to offer Manchester City glimpse of multiple futures”, in The Guardian:

(soccer) A game resembling keep-away, used to train soccer players: one group is tasked with completing a number of passes while the other smaller group tries to take possession of the ball.


blind

From Middle English blynd, from Old English blind, from Proto-West Germanic *blind, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz.


balk

From Middle English balke, from Old English balca, either from or influenced by Old Norse bálkr (“partition, ridge of land”), from Proto-Germanic *balkô. Cognate with Dutch balk (“balk”), German Balken (“balk”), Italian balcone (“balcony”).

der

(baseball) An illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner.


vee

(cricket) The arc of the field, forward of the batsman, from cover to midwicket, in which drives are played.

(cricket) The V-shaped joint between the lower end of the handle and the blade of the bat.


continuation

en-noun

continuation (countable and uncountable, plural continuations)

From Middle English continuacion, from Old French continuation, from Latin continuātiō.
Morphologically continue + -ation

(basketball) A successful shot that, despite a foul, is made with a single continuous motion beginning before the foul, and that is therefore valid in certain forms of basketball.


disqualification

disqualification (countable and uncountable, plural disqualifications)

(basketball): The act of being forbidden from further play in a basketball game due to the accumulation of too many personal fouls.


dolly

Welsh: doli

From doll + -y, from the given name Dorothy, originally applied either to a woman or female pet or to a children's toy, and expanded to refer to various types of contrivances or devices. The Online Etymology Dictionary, while considering the reason for applying it to such devices unobvious, compares how the names jack, jenny and jimmy are also applied to devices.

rattaat

term not specific to bridge construction

(cricket, dated) A ball hit by a batsman such that it goes gently to a fielder for a simple catch.


dolly

en-verb

dolly (third-person singular simple present dollies, present participle dollying, simple past and past participle dollied)

dollies (present singular third-person)
dollying (participle present)
dollied (participle past)
dollied (past)


concede

concede (third-person singular simple present concedes, present participle conceding, simple past and past participle conceded)

concedes (present singular third-person)
conceding (participle present)
conceded (participle past)
conceded (past)

From Middle English [Term?], from Old French conceder, from Latin concēdō (“give way, yield”), from con- (“wholly”) + cēdō (“to yield, give way, to go, grant”), from Proto-Indo-European *ked- (“to go, yield”).

der

(cricket) (of a bowler) to have runs scored off of one's bowling.


crease

From earlier English creast, from Middle English crest (“ridge, crest”). More at crest.

(cricket) One of the white lines drawn on the pitch to show different areas of play; especially the popping crease, but also the bowling crease and the return crease.

rajaviiva

one of the white lines drawn on the pitch

(lacrosse) The circle around the goal, where no offensive players can go.

(ice hockey, handball) The area in front of each goal.


caution

en-noun

caution (countable and uncountable, plural cautions)

Recorded since 1297 as Middle English caucioun (“bail, guarantee, pledge”), from Old French caution (“security, surety”), itself from Latin cautiō, from cautus, past participle of caveō, cavēre (“be on one's guard”).


caution

en-verb

caution (third-person singular simple present cautions, present participle cautioning, simple past and past participle cautioned)

cautions (present singular third-person)
cautioning (participle present)
cautioned (participle past)
cautioned (past)


bail

From Middle English beyle, from Old English bīeġels, from bīeġan + -els.

As Jason Roy's throw came in from deep mid-wicket, a diving Guptill was short when Buttler removed the bails, sending England and the whole of Lord's into delirious celebrations.

2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport, London:

(cricket) One of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.

palikka

in cricket - crosspiece on top of the stump to form a wicket


brace

From Middle English brace, from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, the nominative and accusative plural of bracchium (“arm”).

The Manchester United midfielder’s late brace against Cyprus at the weekend was welcome, but will become no more than a footnote of his Scotland career. His brace here to down the mighty Spanish will go down in history.

28 March 2023, Graeme McGarry, “Scott McTominay earns place in history as Scotland stun Spain”, in The Herald:

To score a 'brace' means that you have scored two goals in a game.

2020 October 23, “What is a brace in soccer?”, in Goal:

(soccer) Two goals scored by one player in a game.

(cricket) Two wickets taken with two consecutive deliveries.


heave

en-noun

heave (countable and uncountable, plural heaves)

From Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pyéti, from the root *keh₂p-. See also have.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian heffe, Dutch heffen ("to raise", "to lift"), German heben ("to raise", "to lift"), Danish hæve ("to raise", "to lift"), Albanian kap (“I grasp, seize”), Old Irish cáin (“law, tribute”), cacht (“prisoner”), Latin capiō (“to take”), Latvian kàmpt (“to seize”), Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”), κώπη (kṓpē, “handle”)).

cog

That left 15 needed from Boult's final set. Two dots were followed by a heave over deep mid-wicket, then came the outrageous moment of fortune.

(cricket) A forceful shot in which the ball follows a high trajectory


extra

(cricket) A run scored without the ball having hit the striker's bat - a wide, bye, leg bye or no ball.


cradle

en-verb

cradle (third-person singular simple present cradles, present participle cradling, simple past and past participle cradled)

cradles (present singular third-person)
cradling (participle present)
cradled (participle past)
cradled (past)

From Middle English cradel, credel, from Old English cradol, from Proto-West Germanic *kradul, from Proto-Germanic *kradulaz, from Proto-Germanic *kradô (“(wicker) basket”). Related to cart.

der

(lacrosse) To rock the lacrosse stick back and forth in order to keep the ball in the head by means of centrifugal force.

veivata

lacrosse: to rock the lacrosse stick back and forth


mound

From earlier meaning "hedge, fence", from Middle English mound, mund (“protection, boundary, raised earthen rampart”), from Old English mund (“hand, hand of protection, protector, guardianship”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundu, from Proto-Germanic *mundō (“hand”), *munduz (“protection, patron”), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂-nt-éh₂ (“the beckoning one”), from *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon”).
Cognate with Old Frisian mund (“guardianship”), Old High German munt (“hand, protection”) (German Mündel (“ward”), Vormund (“a guardian”)), Old Norse mund (“hand”) (Icelandic mund), Middle Dutch mond (“protection”), and possibly Latin manus (“hand”), Ancient Greek μάρη (márē, “hand”).

cog

The pitcher was waiting at the mound.

(baseball) Elevated area of dirt upon which the pitcher stands to pitch.


foul

en-adj

foul (comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

fouler (comparative)
foulest (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English foul, from Old English fūl (“foul, dirty, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, stinking, guilty”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūl, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”).
Cognate with Dutch vuil (“foul, dirty, filthy, obscene, lewd”), German faul (“foul, rotten, putrid, lazy”), German Low German fuul (“foul, rotten, putrid”), Faroese fúlur (“foul”), Icelandic fúll (“foul, rotten, sullen”), Danish ful (“nasty, ugly”), Norwegian Bokmål ful (“clever, sly”), Norwegian Bokmål ful (“clever, sly”) and Swedish ful (“ugly, dirty, bad”), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq (“to make dirty”), Latin puter (“rotten”). More at putrid.
Ancient Greek φαῦλος (phaûlos, “bad”) is a false cognate inasmuch as it is not from the same etymon, instead being cognate to few.

cog

Jones hit foul ball after foul ball.

(baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.

оплетен

having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement


foul

en-verb

foul (third-person singular simple present fouls, present participle fouling, simple past and past participle fouled)

fouls (present singular third-person)
fouling (participle present)
fouled (participle past)
fouled (past)

Inherited from Middle English foulen, fulen, from Old English fūlian (“to become foul; rot; decay”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūlēn, from Proto-Germanic *fūlāną (“to rot; decay”).

der

Smith fouled him hard.

The Gunners dominated for long periods but, against the run of play, Denilson fouled Max Gradel and Robert Snodgrass put Leeds ahead from the spot.

2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC:

(transitive, basketball, soccer) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.

фаулирам

Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.

State begins fouling and UCLA misses a couple of front-end free throws on one-and-ones.

2009, Brandon Lang, Stanley Cohen, Beating the Odds: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Sports Handicapper, →ISBN:

(intransitive, basketball, soccer) To commit a foul.

Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.

(transitive, baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.

Jones fouled for strike one.

(intransitive, baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.


foul

→ Cantonese: foul

→ Polish: faul

→ Russian: фол (fol)

→ Turkish: faul

Jones hit a foul up over the screen.

(baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.


drift

en-noun

drift (countable and uncountable, plural drifts)

From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).

cog

(cricket) A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.


splitter

lumper

antonym(s) of “one who prefers to split categories”

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-splitter.wav

split-finger fastball
split-finger fastball


retire

en-verb

retire (third-person singular simple present retires, present participle retiring, simple past and past participle retired)

retires (present singular third-person)
retiring (participle present)
retired (participle past)
retired (past)

/ɹəˈtaɪə(ɹ)/

From Middle French retirer (“draw back”), from Old French retirer, built from re- (“back”) + tirer (“draw, pull”), the latter from Vulgar Latin *tīrāre, of highly uncertain origin.

Jones retired in favour of Smith.

(intransitive, cricket, of a batsman) To voluntarily stop batting before being dismissed so that the next batsman can bat.

luopua

cricket: to voluntarily stop batting before being dismissed

Jones retired Smith 6-3.

Jones makes the catch for the third out, and that retires the side.

(transitive, baseball, of a fielder) To make a play which results in a runner or the batter being out, either by means of a put out, fly out or strikeout. Also, when such an event ends a team's turn at bat.

polttaa

baseball: to make a play which results in a runner or the batter being out


gap

From Middle English gap, gappe, from Old Norse gap (“an empty space, gap, chasm”), from gapa (“to gape, scream”), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to open wide, gape”). Related to Danish gab (“an expanse, space, gap”), Old English ġeap (“open space, expanse”); compare English gape.

cog

Jones doubled through the gap.

(baseball) The regions between the outfielders.


splice

Circa 1525, borrowed from Middle Dutch splissen (Modern Dutch splitsen); akin to Middle Dutch splitten (“to split”), German spleißen (“to split, splice”), Spliss (“split ends, hair breakage”), French épisser (also from Dutch). The Dutch word originally referred only to the fraying of the ropes' ends but was then also used for the entire process of fraying and retying; hence the peculiar semantic development from “split” to “join”. The same development occurred in German.

If the ball hits the splice, it is likely to dolly up for an easy catch.

(cricket) That part of a bat where the handle joins the blade.


secondary

From Middle English secundarie, from Latin secundārius (“of the second class or quality”), from secundus (whence the English second) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary), equivalent to second + -ary; compare the French secondaire, the Italian secondario, the Occitan secundari, the Portuguese secundario, and the Spanish secundario.

der

English numerals#Ordinal numbers
secondary

(American football, Canadian football) The defensive backs.


sneak

Possibly from Middle English sniken (“to creep, crawl”), from Old English snīcan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *snīkan, from Proto-Germanic *snīkaną (“to creep, crawl”), which is related to the root of snake. Compare Danish snige (“to sneak”), Swedish snika (“to sneak, hanker after”), Icelandic sníkja (“to sneak, hanker after”). Possibly related to snitch.

cog

(obsolete, cricket) A ball bowled so as to roll along the ground; a daisy-cutter

(American football) A play where the quarterback receives the snap and immediately dives forward.


slice

From Middle English sclise, sklise, from Old French esclice, esclis (“a piece split off”), deverbal of esclicer, esclicier (“to splinter, split up”), from Frankish *slitjan (“to split up”), from Proto-Germanic *slitjaną, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to split, tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyd- (“to rend, injure, crumble”). Akin to Old High German sliz, gisliz (“a tear, rip”), Old High German slīzan (“to tear”), Old English slītan (“to split up”), modern French éclisse. More at slite, slit.

der

(golf) A shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the right. See fade, hook, draw.

(cricket) A kind of cut shot where the bat makes an obtuse angle with the batter.


slice

en-verb

slice (third-person singular simple present slices, present participle slicing, simple past and past participle sliced)

slices (present singular third-person)
slicing (participle present)
sliced (participle past)
sliced (past)

no matter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney

(transitive, golf) To hit a shot that slices (travels from left to right for a right-handed player).

svirgolare

(golf) to hit a shot that travels to one side

Chris Brunt sliced the spot-kick well wide but his error was soon forgotten as Olsson headed home from a corner.

2011 October 22, Sam Sheringham, “Aston Villa 1 – 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:

(transitive, soccer) To kick the ball so that it goes in an unintended direction, at too great an angle or too high.

(transitive, tennis) To hit the ball with a stroke that causes a spin, resulting in the ball swerving or staying low after a bounce.


peel

en-noun

peel (countable and uncountable, plural peels)

From Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilō, pilāre (“to remove hair from, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pill.

der

(countable, rugby) The action of peeling away from a formation.

ganda

(Rugby football) The action of peeling away from a formation


peel

en-verb

peel (third-person singular simple present peels, present participle peeling, simple past and past participle peeled)

peels (present singular third-person)
peeling (participle present)
peeled (participle past)
peeled (past)

Named from Walter H. Peel, a noted 19th-century croquet player.

(croquet) To send through a hoop (of a ball other than one's own).


slam

slam (third-person singular simple present slams, present participle slamming, simple past and past participle slammed)

slams (present singular third-person)
slamming (participle present)
slammed (participle past)
slammed (past)

From Middle English *slammen (not recorded), apparently from a Scandinavian source ultimately from Old Norse slæma, slœma (“to slam, swing a weapon, strike an object out of reach”), related to Old Norse slamra, slambra (“to slam”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål slamre (“to slam”), Swedish slamra (“to pound, beat, make a clatter, rattle”), Norwegian Nynorsk slamra (“to sway, dangle”).

правя капо

card games: to defeat by winning all the tricks

(basketball) To dunk forcefully, to slam dunk.


slam

en-noun

slam (countable and uncountable, plural slams)

(countable, tennis) One of the competitions of the yearly Grand Slam events.


rally

From Middle French rallier (French rallier), from Old French ralier, from Latin prefix re- + ad + ligare (“to bind; to ally”).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-rally.wav

(squash, table tennis, tennis, badminton) A sequence of strokes between serving and scoring a point.

table tennis; badminton; table tennis; badminton


snag

The Australian National Dictionary Centre suggests that snag as slang for "sausage" most likely derives from the earlier British slang for "light meal", although it makes no comment on how it came to be specifically applied to sausages.Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms The word's use in football slang originates as a shortening of "sausage roll", rhyming slang for "goal", to sausage, and hence, by synonymy, snag.

2003, Greg Baum, "Silver anniversary of a goal achieved", The Age
"It just kept coming down and I just kept putting them through the middle," he said. "I got an opportunity, and I kicked a few snags."

(Australian rules football, slang) A goal.


release

en-verb

release (third-person singular simple present releases, present participle releasing, simple past and past participle released)

releases (present singular third-person)
releasing (participle present)
released (participle past)
released (past)

From Middle English relesen, relessen, from Old French relaisser (variant of relascher).

With the Gunners far too lightweight in midfield, Mikel Arteta dropped back into a deeper-lying role. This freed Yossi Benayoun to go further forward, a move that helped forge a rare Arsenal chance on 30 minutes when the Israeli released Van Persie, only for the Dutchman's snap-shot to be tipped around the post.

2011 September 13, Sam Lyon, “Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Arsenal”, in BBC:

(soccer) To set up; to provide with a goal-scoring opportunity


spike

From Middle English spike, spyke, spik, from Old Norse spík (“spike, sprig”), from Proto-Germanic *spīkō (“stick, splinter, point”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“to be pointed; sharp point, stick”). Cognate with Icelandic spík (“spike”), Swedish spik (“spike, nail”), Dutch spijker (“nail”), Old English spīcing (“spike”), and Latin spīca (“ear of corn”), which may have influenced some senses.

шпайкове

informal: running shoes with spikes in the soles

(volleyball) An attack from, usually, above the height of the net performed with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.


spike

en-verb

spike (third-person singular simple present spikes, present participle spiking, simple past and past participle spiked)

spikes (present singular third-person)
spiking (participle present)
spiked (participle past)
spiked (past)

terästää

to covertly put alcohol or another intoxicating substance into a drink

(volleyball) To attack from, usually, above the height of the net with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.

to spike the football

“No one is spiking the football yet,” Mr. Kahl said.

2022 September 13, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper, quoting Colin Kahl, “The Critical Moment Behind Ukraine’s Rapid Advance”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(American football slang) To slam the football to the ground, usually in celebration of scoring a touchdown, or to stop expiring time on the game clock after snapping the ball as to save time for the losing team to attempt to score the tying or winning points.


wedgie

(basketball, slang) A basketball stuck between the rim and the backboard following a field goal, free throw, rebound, or block attempt.


server

→ Danish: server

→ Dutch: server

→ German: Server

→ Hindi: सर्वर (sarvar)

→ Hungarian: szerver

→ Italian: server m

→ Japanese: サーバー (sābā)

→ Korean: 서버 (seobeo)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: server, sørver

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: server, sørvar

→ Persian: سرور

→ Polish: serwer

→ Portuguese: server

→ Romanian: server n

→ Russian: се́рвер (sérver)

desc

→ Thai: เซิร์ฟเวอร์ (sə́əp-wə̂ə)

→ Thai: เซิร์ฟเวอร์ (sə́əp-wə̂ə)

→ Turkish: server

From Middle English servere, equivalent to serve + -er.

(tennis, volleyball) The player who serves the ball.

One who serves.
The player who serves the ball.


scout

From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultō (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun.

der

(UK, cricket) A fielder in a game for practice.


stumped

en-adj

stumped (comparative more stumped, superlative most stumped)

more stumped (comparative)
most stumped (superlative)

(cricket, of a batsman, not comparable) out as a result of the wicket-keeper breaking the wicket with the ball while the batsman is out of his crease.


seagull

en-verb

seagull (third-person singular simple present seagulls, present participle seagulling, simple past and past participle seagulled)

seagulls (present singular third-person)
seagulling (participle present)
seagulled (participle past)
seagulled (past)

From sea + gull. The second element is from a Brythonic language. Compare Welsh gwylan, Breton gouelan.

[…] and when you need cover for the fullback because of the bombs raining down, when the walking maul requires every forward to quit seagulling and actually do some hard graft, then the rest of the game opens up.

2002 September 24, Greig Blanchett, “Re: The Immorality of the Drop Goal”, in rec.sport.rugby.union (Usenet):

On hand was seagulling number eight Dave Hodges to cross for the all-important try.

2002 December 13, “Sharks beached at Stradey”, in BBC Sport:

That occurred in the 12th minute when flanker George Smith, seagulling out wide, enjoyed the rewards of a two-man overlap to score.

2003 November 2, Greg Growden, “Australia survives scare”, in The Age:

France was full of running and continued to spread the ball wide or kick in behind the defence, where towering right-winger Aurelien Rougerie and the seagulling French back row had a height advantage contesting the high ball.

2003 November 10, Mark Fuller, “Impeccable France outclasses Ireland”, in The Age:

Samo seagulled for Australia's final try two minutes from time.

2011 September 24, Darren Walton, “Injuries sour Wallabies 67-5 win over USA”, in MSN NZ:

(British, Australia, New Zealand, rugby slang, of a forward) To run in the back line rather than concentrate on primary positional duties in open play.


reverse dunk

(basketball) A dunk in which the player's back is to the basket when the ball is dunked.


thunderdunk

(basketball) An extremely forceful dunk.


lob jam

From the two aspects of the play: a lob pass and a jam shot by the receiver.

(basketball, rare) Synonym of alley oop.


shy

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).
Etymology tree
Middle English shy
English shy

etymon

(Scotland, soccer) A throw-in from the sidelines, using two hands above the head.


slam dunk

(basketball) An impressively forceful dunk.


SF

en-noun

SF (countable and uncountable, plural SFs)

→ Japanese: エスエフ, SF (SF)

(basketball) Initialism of small forward.


free-throw lane

free-throw lane (plural free-throw lanes)

Players must remain outside the free-throw lane until the ball leaves the free-throw shooter's hands.

(basketball) The rectangular or trapezoidal area between the free-throw line and the end line.


half-court line

half-court line (plural half-court lines)

(basketball) The line parallel to the end lines and midway between them.


charity stripe

(US, basketball, informal) The free-throw line.


half-court violation

half-court violation (plural half-court violations)

(basketball) A turnover occurring when the team with possession, having brought the ball over the half-court line causes it to cross back over the line without interference from the other team.


shotgun offense

shotgun offense (plural shotgun offenses)

(American football) An offense in which the quarterback sets up at a distance behind the center and the ball is snapped through the air.


FT

FT (countable and uncountable, plural FTs)


alley oop

Borrowed from French allez-hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap. From allez (“go! let's go!”), 2nd-person plural or formal indicative form of aller, and hop, onomatopoeic.

Owens helped beat the Chicago Bears with a catch he made in the end zone;... a week later he gathered in an Alley Oop from Tittle for a victory over Green Bay.

1965, Harold Rosenthal, The Big Play, page 71:

It was a mystery how he managed to ride at all with that set-up, let alone tweak alley-oops on this natural quarter pipe!

2006, Snowboard Journal, number 10, page 29:

Kobe Bryant–to–Shaquille O'Neal alley-oops are among the most iconic and lasting NBA images of the early 2000s. The duo's alley-oop in Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference finals stands above the rest, without a doubt.

2017, National Basketball Association, "Top Moments: Famous Alley-oop from Kobe to Shaq Caps Lakers' Comeback"

(US sports) A high and arcing pass, catch, or move, especially (basketball) a shot made by a player as part of the same jump used to catch a pass.

ponte aérea

basketball: a play in which one player catches a pass while airborne and scores


fast break

Their pressure defense gives them a lot of fast breaks off of steals.

(basketball) An offensive play in which a team, having won possession of the ball, moves the ball downcourt as quickly as possible, attempting to get an easy shot before the defense can set up.


zone defense

zone defense (countable and uncountable, plural zone defenses)

Outside shooting is essential to beating a zone defense.

(basketball, soccer) A defense in which each player covers an area of the court.


lane violation

(basketball) The act of entering the free-throw lane before the free-throw shot has left the shooter's hands.


points in the paint

(basketball, colloquial) Points scored from within the free-throw lane.


man-to-man defense

man-to-man defense (plural man-to-man defenses)

They'll have trouble playing a man-to-man against such a fast guard and tall center.

(basketball) A defense in which each player guards a particular opposing player.


UEFA

w:Union of European Football Associations

Acronym of Union of European Football Associations.


bunny

From bun (“rabbit”) + -y (diminutive suffix). Probably from Scottish Gaelic bun (“bottom, butt, stump, stub”), from Old Irish bun (“the thick end of anything, base, butt, foot”), from Proto-Celtic *bonus, though its origin is uncertain. Compare also English bum. Together with rabbit, bunny has largely displaced its former rhyme cony (see cony for more).

der

(cricket) Synonym of rabbit (“batsman frequently dismissed by the same bowler”)


DFA

(baseball) Initialism of designated for assignment.


airball

* From air + ball.
* The first recorded use of the "airball" chant was on February 24, 1979, during a college basketball game between the Duke University Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels after the Tar Heels' Rich Yonakor took a shot which missed the rim.

As soon as the shot left his hands, the spectators could see it was going to be an airball.

Johnson also could have tied the game, at 66-66 with 14 seconds left. But his jump shot was an airball. From that scramble Lopez emerged with the first of his key foul shots.

1990 April 3, David Levine, “COLLEGE BASKETBALL; Fordham Defeats Iona to Advance”, in The New York Times:

Bryant’s path to becoming a champion, after all, began with a series of infamous misses: his playoff airballs as a rookie against Utah. Clarkson sees those airballs as a metaphor for Bryant’s clunky start against the Jazz two decades later.

2021 April 13, Bill Oram, “Remembering Kobe Bryant’s final game: Five years later, five untold stories about the Lakers legend’s 60-point night”, in The New York Times:

(basketball) A shot that misses the backboard, rim and net entirely.


airball

en-verb

airball (third-person singular simple present airballs, present participle airballing, simple past and past participle airballed)

airballs (present singular third-person)
airballing (participle present)
airballed (participle past)
airballed (past)

Tatum struggled with fatigue through the final two rounds of the postseason and was exhausted to the point he was airballing shots by the time the Warriors were closing out the championship.

2022 August 8, Jared Weiss, “Jayson Tatum opens up on lessons from Celtics’ finals loss, Kevin Durant trade”, in The New York Times:

The Timberwolves lost 128-125 when KAT airballed a falling 30-footer at the buzzer.

2024 January 23, Zach Harper and Shams Charania, “Joel Embiid’s 70-point NBA welcome to Victor Wembanyama. Plus, Shams on Heat-Hornets trade”, in The New York Times:

(basketball, transitive) To throw an airball.


swerve

en-noun

swerve (countable and uncountable, plural swerves)

From Middle English swerven, swarven, from Old English sweorfan (“to file; rub; polish; scour; turn aside”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to rub off; wipe; mop”), from Proto-Indo-European *swerbʰ- (“to turn; wipe; sweep”). Cognate with West Frisian swerve (“to wander; roam; swerve”), Dutch zwerven (“to wander; stray; roam”), Low German swarven (“to swerve; wander; riot”), Swedish dialectal svärva (“to wipe”), Icelandic sverfa (“to file”).

cog

(cricket) Synonym of drift (“sideways movement imparted by spin bowler”)


dunk

en-verb

dunk (third-person singular simple present dunks, present participle dunking, simple past and past participle dunked)

dunks (present singular third-person)
dunking (participle present)
dunked (participle past)
dunked (past)

From Pennsylvania German dunke, from Middle High German dunken, from Old High German dunkōn (“to dip, submerge, dunk”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunkōn (“to make wet”), possibly from Proto-Germanic *þunkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to moisten, wet”).
Cognate with German tunken (“to dunk”), Latin tingō (“to wet, moisten”), Ancient Greek τέγγω (téngō, “to wet, moisten”). Related to taint, tincture, tint.

cog

The center spun quickly and dunked the ball with authority.

(transitive, intransitive, basketball) To put the ball directly downward through the hoop while grabbing onto the rim with power.


paddle

en-noun

paddle (countable and uncountable, plural paddles)

→ Danish: paddel, padle

Partly from the verb paddle ("to splash, dabble"; see below) and partly from Middle English padell (“small spade”).
Middle English padell is from Medieval Latin padela, itself of uncertain origin: perhaps an alteration of Middle English *spaddle (see also spaddle), a diminutive of spade; or from Latin patella (“pan, plate”), the diminutive of patina, or a merger of the two. Compare Ancient Greek πηδάλιον (pēdálion, “rudder, steering oar”), derived from πηδός (pēdós, “the blade of an oar; an oar”).

cog

(UK)

(table tennis) A broad, flat device used in striking the ball, analogous to a racket in tennis.


snap

en-noun

snap (countable and uncountable, plural snaps)

From Dutch snappen (“to bite; seize”) or Low German snappen (“to bite; seize”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snappōn, from Proto-Germanic *snappōną (“to snap; snatch; chatter”), intensive form of *snapāną (”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse snapa (“to get; scrounge”)), from Proto-Indo-European *snop-; compare Lithuanian snãpas (“beak, bill”). (One alternative hypothesis links the Germanic words to *snu-, an expressive root deriving words meaning “nose”, “snout”, “sniff” etc., but this is phonetically unsound.) In any case influenced by onomatopoeia; note expressions such as snip-snap, containing the formally unrelated snip.
Cognate with West Frisian snappe (“to get; catch; snap”), German schnappen (“to grab”), Swedish snappa (“to snatch”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

gloss

”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse <i class="Latn mention" lang="non">snapa</i> (“to get; scrounge”)

sound-symbolic

expressive

onom

onomatopoeia

cog

According to Pro Football Focus, Simmons, listed at 6-foot-4 and 238 pounds, played at least 100 snaps at five positions — slot cornerback, edge rusher, linebacker and both safety spots — and finished with 16½ tackles for a loss, eight sacks, eight pass deflections and three interceptions.

2020 April 24, Ken Belson, Ben Shpigel, “Full Round 1 2020 N.F.L. Picks and Analysis”, in New York Time:

(American football) A backward pass or handoff of a football from its position on the ground that puts the ball in play; a hike.


snap

en-verb

snap (third-person singular simple present snaps, present participle snapping, simple past and past participle snapped or (obsolete) snapt)

snaps (present singular third-person)
snapping (participle present)
snapped (participle past)
snapped (past)
snapt (obsolete participle past)
snapt (obsolete past)

sound-symbolic

expressive

onom

onomatopoeia

захапвам

to attempt to seize with the teeth or bite

napsauttaa

to cause something to emit a snapping sound

He can snap the ball to a back twenty yards behind him.

(transitive, American football) To put (a football) in play by a backward pass or handoff from its position on the ground; to hike (a football).

antaa aloitussyöttö

to pass the ball from the center to a back, to hike the ball

(cricket, transitive) To catch out sharply (a batsman who has just snicked a bowled ball).


Australian rules football

A variety of football devised in Australia, played on an oval field with an oval ball that players try to kick between the goalposts or between a central and outer post.


pivot

From Middle English pevet, *pivot, from Old French pivot (“hinge pin, pivot”) (12th c.), possibly from Latin pūgiō.


clip

en-verb

clip (third-person singular simple present clips, present participle clipping, simple past and past participle clipt or clipped)

clips (present singular third-person)
clipping (participle present)
clipt (participle past)
clipt (past)
clipped (participle past)
clipped (past)

From Middle English clippen, from Old Norse klippa (“to clip, cut the hair, shear sheep”). Cognate with Icelandic klippa (“to clip”), Swedish klippa (“to clip”), Danish klippe (“to clip”), Norwegian Bokmål klippe (“to clip”).

der

(American football) To perform an illegal tackle, throwing the body across the back of an opponent's leg or hitting him from the back below the waist while moving up from behind unless the opponent is a runner or the action is in close line play.


fungo

Uncertain; perhaps from Scots fung (“to fling, throw”).

The fielding coach played fungo with the outfielders to warm them up.

Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter aren’t going to China to […] hit fungoes to wide-eyed Chinese kids.

2007 January 25, Murray Chass, “Yanks Hope to Get a Jump in China”, in New York Times:

(baseball) A fielding practice drill where a person hits fly balls intended to be caught.

He is so strong he could hit it out of the park with a fungo.


fungo

en-verb

fungo (third-person singular simple present fungos, present participle fungoing, simple past and past participle fungoed)

fungos (present singular third-person)
fungoing (participle present)
fungoed (participle past)
fungoed (past)

(baseball) To take part in a fielding practice drill where a person hits fly balls intended to be caught.


track

→ Kashubian: trak (Canada)

From Middle English trak, tracke, from Old French trac (“track of horses, trail, trace”), of uncertain origin. Likely from a Germanic source, either Old Norse traðk ("a track; path; trodden spot"; > Icelandic traðk (“a track; path; tread”), Faroese traðk (“track; tracks”), Norwegian tråkke (“to trample”)) or from Middle Dutch trec, *trac, treck ("line, row, series"; > Dutch trek (“a draft; feature; trait; groove; expedition”)), German Low German Treck (“a draught; movement; passage; flow”). See tread, trek.

gloss

"line, row, series"; > Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="nl">trek</i> (“a draft; feature; trait; groove; expedition”)


Bayern

Clipping of Bayern Munich from German Bayern (“Bavaria”) (clipping of Bayern München).

(soccer) Bayern Munich (a German football club based in Munich)

F.C. Bayern Munich
de:F.C. Bayern München


bush

(baseball) Amateurish behavior, short for "bush league behavior"


PPG

en-noun

PPG (countable and uncountable, plural PPGs)

polypropylene glycol
polypropylene glycol#English

(organic chemistry) Initialism of polypropylene glycol.


honor

honor (countable and uncountable, plural honors)

From Middle English honour, honor, honur, from Anglo-Norman honour, honur, from Old French honor, from Latin honor.
Displaced Middle English menske (“honor, dignity among men”), from Old Norse menskr (“honor”).
The verb is from Middle English honouren, honuren (“to honor”).

оньо́р

card games: one of the most valuable cards

a prophet has no honor in his own country

a prophet is not without honor save in his own country

(in the plural) The privilege of going first.

(golf) The right to play one's ball before one's opponent.

honor

golf: right to play one's ball before one's opponent


skier

However, when Guha returned, she picked the wrong ball to pull and hit a skier to Charlotte Edwards.

2002, Jeff Green, "New Zealand win tri-series in convincing style", Cricinfo

The second thing I did my best to get out of was the unpleasant position Monty found himself in rather too often in Sri Lanka: standing under a skier in the deep.

2012, Harry Pearson, "There's always a catch – unless it's me or Monty underneath the ball", The Guardian

(cricket) A ball hit high in the air, often leading to a catch.


court

→ Bulgarian: корт (kort)

→ French: court

desctree

→ Russian: корт (kort)
→ Armenian: կորտ (kort)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

caught (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

From Middle English court, from Old French cort, curt, from Latin cōrtem (accusative of cōrs), ultimately from cohors. Doublet of cohort.

مَلْعَب

place for playing the game of tennis and some other ball games

The local sports club has six tennis courts and two squash courts.

The shuttlecock landed outside the court.

By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.

1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court:

(sports) A place arranged for playing the games of tennis, basketball, handball, badminton, volleyball, squash and some other games

The photograph at left captures a great serve by Dr. Sadowsky, who will never forget one of Bobby Riggs's serves, which had such a great spin that it landed in his court and bounced back to the other side of the net before he had a chance to return it.

one of the two divisions of a tennis, badminton or volleyball court, in which the player or players of each team play


albatross

en-noun

albatross (plural albatross or albatrosses)

Uncertain. Probably from Spanish or Portuguese alcatraz (“pelican, gannet, albatross”), probably derived from Arabic الْغَطَّاس (al-ḡaṭṭās, “the diver”) (compare Alcatraz); or from Portuguese alcatruz (“water wheel bucket”), from Arabic الْقَادُوس (al-qādūs), from Ancient Greek κάδος (kádos, “pail, jar”), in reference to the pouch of a pelican. In either case, altered under the influence of Latin albus (“white”). Not derived from modern Arabic قَطْرَس (qaṭras, “albatross”), which is perhaps borrowed from Spanish.
For sense development of "burden", see albatross around one’s neck.

der

Albatross (disambiguation)
albatross (metaphor)

(golf) A double eagle, or three under par on any one hole, except a par 3 hole.


BCS

Bowl Championship Series
w:Bowl Championship Series

(American football, historical) Initialism of Bowl Championship Series. Replaced after the 2013 season by the College Football Playoff.


stand-up

en-adj

stand-up (comparative more stand-up, superlative most stand-up)

more stand-up (comparative)
most stand-up (superlative)

stand-up double; stand-up triple

(baseball, of a hit) That allows the batter to advance to a given base (usually second or third) without having to slide.


clothesline

Coordinate term: clotheshorse

Hang this towel out on the clothesline for me.

A rope or cord tied up outdoors to hang clothes on so they can dry.

A structure with multiple cords for the same purpose, such as a Hills hoist.

(Canada, US, informal) The act of knocking a person over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.


clothesline

en-verb

clothesline (third-person singular simple present clotheslines, present participle clotheslining, simple past and past participle clotheslined)

clotheslines (present singular third-person)
clotheslining (participle present)
clotheslined (participle past)
clotheslined (past)

The referee called a personal foul, when he clotheslined the running back.

One beast jams out its arm, as if to clothesline me, jagged claws poised to take my head off at the neck. I let my feet fall from under me, throwing my legs forward, praying for some momentum, ducking and sliding, a mad limbo to freedom.

2014, Jonathan Wood, No Hero, Titan Books, →ISBN:

"I turned around and the next thing I was taken out by this big guy. I'm not sure if he punched me or clothes-lined me," he said.

2014 February 21, “Ear-bite actor Clive Mantle was like 'big monster', court told”, in BBC News:

(Canada, US, informal, transitive) To knock (a person) over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.


hike

From English dialectal hyke (“to walk vigorously”), probably a Northern form of hitch, from Middle English hytchen, hichen, icchen (“to move, jerk, stir”). Cognate with Scots hyke (“to move with a jerk”), dialectal German hicken (“to hobble, walk with a limp”), Danish hinke (“to hop”). More at hick.

cog

(American football) The snap of the ball to start a play.


hike

en-verb

hike (third-person singular simple present hikes, present participle hiking, simple past and past participle hiked)

hikes (present singular third-person)
hiking (participle present)
hiked (participle past)
hiked (past)

(American football) To snap the ball to start a play.


chinaman

From Chinaman, a dated, now offensive term for a Chinese person. Compare Chinese (“unfamiliar, unexpected”). Named in reference to Ellis Achong, a West Indian player of Chinese descent.

Several cricketers came up to them and asked Pradeep about his effortless action mimicry and his promising chinaman bowling.

2011, Shehan Karunatilaka, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, Jonathan Cape, page 103:

(cricket, dated) A left-arm unorthodox bowling action (left-arm wrist-spin).

(cricket) A spin bowler who uses such an action.

(cricket) A ball delivered with such an action.


jungle

en-noun

jungle (countable and uncountable, plural jungles)

→ Catalan: jungla

→ Czech: džungle

→ Danish: jungle

→ Dutch: jungle

→ French: jungle
→ Romanian: junglă

desctree

→ German: Dschungel, Tschungel
→ Hungarian: dzsungel

→ Esperanto: ĝangalo

→ Italian: giungla

→ Japanese: ジャングル (janguru)

→ Korean: 정글 (jeonggeul)

→ Polish: dżungla

→ Russian: джу́нгли (džúngli)
→ Armenian: ջունգլի (ǰungli)
→ Georgian: ჯუნგლი (ǯungli)

→ Serbo-Croatian: džungla

→ Slovak: džungľa

→ Slovene: džungla

→ Spanish: jungla

→ Swedish: djungel

→ Ukrainian: джу́нглі (džúnhli)

→ Welsh: jyngl

/ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/

Borrowed from Hindustani جَن٘گَل (jaṅgal) / जंगल (jaṅgal), from Sanskrit जङ्गल (jaṅgala, “arid, sterile, desert”). First appears c. 1776 in a translation by Nathaniel Halhed.

der

you can take the monkey out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the monkey

Hitting from the Jungle. The rough at some courses is just weeds and sparse grass, as often as not giving a player a decent lie to shoot from. But grass above four inches is nasty. It will grab your club and alter your shots.

2006, Rob Blumer, Rex Chaney, Essential golf instruction, page 167:


speculator

From Latin speculātor (“spy, explorer, investigator”), from speculor (“to watch, to observe”) + -tor (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from specula (“watchtower”), from speciō (“to watch, to observe”), q.v. In some senses, an agent noun formed within English from speculate. Doublet of spectator.


fore

(golf) An exclamation yelled to inform players a ball is moving in their direction.

fore

in golf: yelled to inform players a ball is moving in their direction


goner

From gone + -er. First attestations around 1850.

(baseball slang) A ball hit out of the playing area for a home run.


shift

en-noun

shift (countable and uncountable, plural shifts)

From Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.

cog

Teams often use a shift against this lefty.


audible

en-verb

audible (third-person singular simple present audibles, present participle audibling, simple past and past participle audibled)

audibles (present singular third-person)
audibling (participle present)
audibled (participle past)
audibled (past)

Borrowed from Middle French audible, from Late Latin audibilis, from Latin audire (“to hear”).

The quarterback audibled after seeing the defensive formation.

(intransitive, American football) To change the play at the line of scrimmage by yelling out a new one.


audible

The audible changed the play to a run.

(American football) The act of or an instance of changing the play at the line of scrimmage by yelling out a new one.


flinch

From Middle French flenchir (“to bend”), of Germanic origin. Compare Middle High German lenken (“to bend”). Attested in English since the 16th century.

(croquet) The slipping of the foot from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.


flinch

flinch (third-person singular simple present flinches, present participle flinching, simple past and past participle flinched)

flinches (present singular third-person)
flinching (participle present)
flinched (participle past)
flinched (past)

(croquet) To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.


salami

en-noun

salami (countable and uncountable, plural salamis)

From Italian salami, plural of salame (“salami”), from sale (“salt”), from Latin sal.


slog

slog (countable and uncountable, plural slogs)

Probably a variation of slug (“to hit very hard”) or slough.
Possibly related to slag, seen in the North Germanic languages, in association with the third verb and second noun definition.

(countable, cricket) An aggressive shot played with little skill.


offensive foul

(basketball) A foul committed by a member of the team with possession of the ball.


pinball

pinball (countable and uncountable, plural pinballs)

→ Portuguese: pinball

→ Spanish: pinball

The opener came from a Jarvis ball which struck Aleksandar Kolarov en route to a lively round of pinball between City players before it was poked in by Milijas.

2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC:

(figuratively, soccer) A situation where a ball is frantically kicked between many players.


charging

charging (countable and uncountable, plural chargings)

/ˈt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒɪŋ/

[ˈt͡ʃaɹd͡ʒɪŋ]

/ˈt͡ʃɑːd͡ʒɪŋ/

[ˈt͡ʃaːd͡ʒɪŋ]

Smith is called for charging, and the Nimrods will get the ball.

(uncountable, basketball) An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender.


nod

en-verb

nod (third-person singular simple present nods, present participle nodding, simple past and past participle nodded)

nods (present singular third-person)
nodding (participle present)
nodded (participle past)
nodded (past)

From Middle English nodden, probably from an unrecorded Old English *hnodian (“to nod, shake the head”), from Proto-Germanic *hnudōną (“to beat, rivet, pound, push”), from Proto-Indo-European *kendʰ-, from *ken- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Compare Old High German hnotōn (“to shake”), hnutten (“to shake, rattle, vibrate”) (> modern dialectal German notteln, nütteln (“to rock, move back and forth”)), Icelandic hnjóða (“to rivet, clinch”).

inh

Jones nods the ball back to his goalkeeper.

With the hosts not able to find their passes - everything that went forward was too heavy or too short - Terry once again had to come to his side's rescue after Davies had brilliantly nodded into the path of Elmander, who followed up swiftly with a deflected shot.

2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC:

(transitive, intransitive, soccer) To head; to strike the ball with one's head.


over the wicket

(cricket) bowling the ball from the side of the wicket that puts the bowler's bowling hand closer to the wicket


around the wicket

(cricket) Bowling the ball from the side of the wicket that puts the bowler's bowling hand farther from the wicket


LBW

en-noun

LBW (countable and uncountable, plural LBWs)

The Authentic, getting in front of his wicket, to pull one of the simplest long-hops ever seen on a cricket field, missed it, and was l.b.w.

1919, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 13, in Mike:

leg before wicket
leg before wicket#English

(cricket) Initialism of leg before wicket.


outswing

(cricket) The swing of the ball through the air, in a direction away from the batsman.


back foot

(cricket) The batsman's foot closest to the wicket


back foot shot

(cricket) A shot played by the batsman with most of his weight on the back foot.


bad light

(cricket) A weather condition where the light is so poor that the umpires feel that to continue playing would be dangerous.


front foot shot

front foot shot (plural front foot shots)

(cricket) A shot played by the batsman with most of his weight on the front foot.


offer the light

en-verb

offer the light (third-person singular simple present offers the light, present participle offering the light, simple past and past participle offered the light)

offers the light (present singular third-person)
offering the light (participle present)
offered the light (participle past)
offered the light (past)

(intransitive, cricket, of the umpires) To ask the batsmen if they wish to continue playing in conditions of poor light. If they do not, play is suspended for bad light.


moving screen

(basketball, informal) An offensive foul committed when a player executing a screen moves in order to block the defender and makes contact. Technically it is a block; in other words, there is no such terminology in most rulebooks using the phrase "moving screen." This means that, for it to be a foul, there must be contact (and illegal contact at that, meaning advantage-conveying). No illegal contact, no foul, no matter how much moving the screener does.


front foot

(cricket) The batsman's foot farthest from his wicket.


opening

From Middle English openynge, openande, openand, from Old English openiende, from Proto-West Germanic *opanōndī, from Proto-Germanic *upanōndz, present participle of *upanōną (“to open”), equivalent to open + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian iepenjend, Dutch openend, German öffnend, Swedish öppnande, Icelandic opnandi.

/ˈəʊ.pə.nɪŋ/

opens the attack
open the attack#English

(cricket) describing the first period of play, usually up to the fall of the first wicket; describing a batsman who opens the innings or a bowler who opens the attack


blockhole

(cricket) A small depression in the pitch caused by batsmen tapping their bats on the point where they have taken block.


leg before wicket

(cricket) Describing the way of getting out in which the ball would have hit the batsman's wicket, but hits the batsman's legs or more rarely another part of the batsman's body without first hitting the bat or a hand holding the bat.


leg before wicket

en-noun

leg before wicket (plural leg before wickets)

(cricket) An instance of a batsman being out due to the leg before wicket law.


take guard

en-verb

take guard (third-person singular simple present takes guard, present participle taking guard, simple past took guard, past participle taken guard)

takes guard (present singular third-person)
taking guard (participle present)
took guard (past)
taken guard (participle past)

(idiomatic, cricket) (For a new batsman, with help from the umpire) to mark a point on the popping crease in front of his wicket so that he knows where it is behind him; to guard.


bodyline

The Cousins changed the game entirely, said the blimpish fellow: much as he might have deplored power tennis or bodyline bowling.

1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 3:

(cricket, now historical) Designating a form of bowling (now against the rules) characterised by fast, short-pitched balls aimed at the batsman's body or leg stump rather than the wicket.


bottom edge

(cricket) The edge of a bat closest to the ground.

(cricket) A deflection of a ball off of the bottom edge of a bat, onto the ground and potentially into the wicket.


bottom edge

bottom edge (third-person singular simple present bottom edges, present participle bottom edging, simple past and past participle bottom edged)

bottom edges (present singular third-person)
bottom edging (participle present)
bottom edged (participle past)
bottom edged (past)

(cricket) To hit the ball with the bottom edge of the bat.


top edge

(cricket) The edge of a bat farthest from the ground.

(cricket) A deflection of a ball off of the top edge of a bat, into the air and potentially for a catch.


top edge

top edge (third-person singular simple present top edges, present participle top edging, simple past and past participle top edged)

top edges (present singular third-person)
top edging (participle present)
top edged (participle past)
top edged (past)

(cricket) To hit the ball with the top edge of the bat.


outside edge

(cricket) The edge of a bat farthest from the body of the batsman.

(cricket) A deflection of a ball off of the outside edge of a bat, often to the slips or wicket keeper for a catch.


outside edge

outside edge (third-person singular simple present outside edges, present participle outside edging, simple past and past participle outside edged)

outside edges (present singular third-person)
outside edging (participle present)
outside edged (participle past)
outside edged (past)

(cricket) To hit the ball with the outside edge of the bat.


inside edge

(cricket) The edge of a bat closest to the body of the batsman.

(cricket) A deflection of a ball off of the inside edge of a bat, sometimes to the wicket keeper for a catch.


inside edge

inside edge (third-person singular simple present inside edges, present participle inside edging, simple past and past participle inside edged)

inside edges (present singular third-person)
inside edging (participle present)
inside edged (participle past)
inside edged (past)

(cricket) To hit the ball with the inside edge of the bat.


flipper

From flip + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Flappert (“flipper, wing”).

cog

(cricket) A type of ball bowled by a leg spin bowler, which spins backwards and skids off the pitch with a low bounce.


beamer

From beam (“project, transmit”) + -er (agent noun suffix), or, for the ball, + -er (patient suffix).

suf

(cricket) A ball, presumed to have been bowled accidentally, that does not bounce, but reaches the batsman above the waist.


Test match

(cricket) A five-day first class match between sides representing the official Test nations.

(rugby union, field hockey) An international match between the teams of two nations.

rugby union; field hockey; rugby union; field hockey


Test nation

(cricket) Any of the officially recognised nations who play Test cricket: Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe.


first class match

en-noun

first class match (plural first class matches)

(cricket) A three- or five-day cricket match, with two innings per side, played under a set of conditions specified and officially recognised by an official governing body of cricket.


back up

en-verb

back up (third-person singular simple present backs up, present participle backing up, simple past and past participle backed up)

backs up (present singular third-person)
backing up (participle present)
backed up (participle past)
backed up (past)

(idiomatic, intransitive, cricket) For the non-striker to take a few steps down the pitch, in preparation to taking a run, just as the bowler bowls the ball.

ottaa muutama askel taaksepäin

(idiomatic, intransitive, cricket) For a fielder to position himself behind the wicket (relative to a team-mate who is throwing the ball at the wicket) so as to stop the ball, and prevent overthrows.


tailender

The Bushrangers moved a step closer to securing a berth in the final when tailenders Damien Wright and Clint McKay posted a century stand on day two, which gave the Vics a first-innings 400.

2009 January 31, Michael Horan, “Andrew McDonald strikes early for Victoria”, in Herald Sun:

(cricket) One of the last four or five batsmen in the batting order, normally bowlers with limited batting ability; a member of the tail.


all out

(cricket) The state of a side having no more men to bat, thus ending its innings.


tickle

From Middle English tiklen, tikelen, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a frequentative form of Middle English tikken (“to touch lightly”), thus equivalent to tick + -le; or perhaps related to Old English tinclian (“to tickle”). Compare North Frisian tigele (“to tickle”) (Hallig dialect), and tiikle (“to tickle”) (Amrum dialect), German dialectal zicklen (“to excite; stir up”).
Alternatively, from a metathetic alteration of Middle English kitelen ("to tickle"; see kittle).

gloss

"to tickle"; see <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">kittle</i>

There's a very fine line between a tickle and an edge!

2016, Ann Waterhouse, Cricket Made Simple:

(cricket, informal) A light tap of the ball.


benefit of the doubt

en-noun

benefit of the doubt (countable and uncountable, plural benefits of the doubt)

(cricket) The principle employed by umpires in cases of uncertainty concerning a batsman possibly being out, in which the decision must be in the batsman's favour.


West Indies

From west + Indies. From being lands called the Indies, of the West. From being mistaken for the East Indies (aka, the Indies).

(cricket) A Federation of Caribbean states which, together with Guyana, play Test matches as if they were a single nation.


howzat

(cricket) The cry used by members of the fielding team to make an appeal to the umpire.


bottom hand

(cricket) With a standard batting grip, the hand placed further down the handle of the bat; the batsman's dominant hand, providing most power to a shot.


bottom order

(cricket) The batsmen, constituting the tail, who bat last - roughly in positions 8 to 11.


batting order

(cricket, baseball, softball) The sequence in which a side's batsmen go in to bat.


bowling average

bowling average (plural bowling averages)

(cricket) The number of runs conceded divided by the number of wickets taken, used as a statistic.


dribble

en-verb

dribble (third-person singular simple present dribbles, present participle dribbling, simple past and past participle dribbled)

dribbles (present singular third-person)
dribbling (participle present)
dribbled (participle past)
dribbled (past)

→⇒ Czech: driblovat

→ Dutch: dribbelen

→ French: dribbler

→ German: dribbeln

→ Portuguese: drible, driblar

→ Spanish: driblar

From drib + -le (early modern English frequentative suffix).

suffix

(basketball, soccer) In various ball games, to move (with) the ball, controlling its path by kicking or bouncing it repeatedly.

дриблирам

to move (with) a ball by kicking or bouncing it


bowling crease

(cricket) The white line marked at each end of the pitch through the wicket and ending at the return creases. When bowling the bowler's front foot must not cross this line until after the ball has been delivered.


bowling figures

(cricket) A group of statistics listed for each bowler in a single innings:- number of overs bowled, number of maiden overs bowled, number of runs conceded and number of wickets taken.

(cricket) Collectively the bowling figures for all the bowlers who bowled in an innings or match.


batting average

en-noun

batting average (plural batting averages)

(cricket) A statistical estimation of the scoring ability of a batsman, equal to the total number of runs scored divided by the number of times out.

Jones has a .279 batting average.

(baseball) A statistical estimation of the hitting ability of a batter, equal to the number of hits divided by the number of official at-bats. Normally expressed as a real number instead of an average despite the name.


bowled

(cricket) (Dismissed) by the bowled ball hitting and breaking the batsman's wicket.


bowl out

en-verb

bowl out (third-person singular simple present bowls out, present participle bowling out, simple past and past participle bowled out)

bowls out (present singular third-person)
bowling out (participle present)
bowled out (participle past)
bowled out (past)

(cricket, of a side) To take all the opponents' wickets (in whatever way) and thus end their innings.

(cricket, of a bowler or batsman) To dismiss or be dismissed bowled.


bump ball

The umpire believed, mistakenly, that it was a bump ball and Boucher was allowed to remain at the crease.

2005, David Fraser, Cricket and the Law: The Man in White is Always Right, →ISBN, page 302:

(cricket) A ball that bounces off of the pitch immediately after being hit by the bat, and goes up in the air.


movement

en-noun

movement (countable and uncountable, plural movements)

From Middle English mevement, from Old French movement (modern French mouvement), from movoir + -ment; cf. also Medieval Latin movimentum, from Latin movere (“move”). Doublet of moment and momentum. In this sense, displaced native Old English styring, which led to Modern English stirring.
Morphologically move + -ment.

eye movement desensitization and reprocessing

The movement on his cutter was devastating.

(baseball) The deviation of a pitch from ballistic flight.


umpire

From a Middle English rebracketing of a noumpere as an oumpere, from Old French nonper (“odd number, not even (as a tie-breaking arbitrator)”), from non (“not”) + per (“equal”), from Latin par (“equal”). Doublet of nonpareil.

съдия

an official who oversees a game or match

An official who presides over a sports match.

(tennis, badminton) The official who presides over a tennis match sat on a high chair.

(cricket) One of the two white-coated officials who preside over a cricket match.

The umpire called the pitch a strike.

(baseball) One of the officials who preside over a baseball game.

The umpire must keep on his toes as the play often occurs around him.

(American football) The official who stands behind the line on the defensive side or next to the referee on the offensive side.

(Australian rules football) A match official on the ground deciding and enforcing the rules during play. As of 2007 the Australian Football League uses three; in the past there were two or just one. The other officials, the goal umpires and boundary umpires, are usually referred to by those phrases.


bowler

(cricket) A player selected mainly for his bowling ability.

syöttäjä

cricket: player selected mainly for his bowling ability


rhubarb

en-noun

rhubarb (countable and uncountable, plural rhubarbs)

Attributed to the circa 1852 practice by the theatre company of English actor Charles Kean (1811–1868) at the Princess’s Theatre, London, of actors saying the word rhubarb repetitively to mimic the sound of indistinct conversation, the word having been chosen because it does not have harsh-sounding consonants or clear vowels.
The baseball senses are said to have been coined by the American sports writer Garry Schumacher and popularized by the American baseball commentator Red Barber (1908–1992). Barber also claimed to have started using the word in the 1940s, based on the practice in “early radio dramas” (presumably in the US, circa 1930) of actors repetitively voicing rhubarb. However, unlike the UK usage, he felt the practice applied to muttering by an angry mob, and so applied the word to arguments on the baseball field where he could not distinguish the words.

Out in the bullpen, Chip Hilton and Soapy Smith had stopped throwing to watch the argument—what ballplayers call a "rhubarb."

1953, Clair Bee, “The Fireman Arrives”, in Fence Busters (Chip Hilton Sports Series; 11), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC; republished as Clair Bee, Randall K. Farley, Cynthia Bee Farley, Fence Busters, Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman, 1999, →ISBN:

Richie Ashburn slid into third, and Billy Cox, Dodger third baseman, made the tag, [Umpire Beans] Reardon yelled "safe" but raised his hand in the "out" sign. Naturally, a rhubarb.

1960, Joe Garagiola, “The Loners”, in Baseball Is a Funny Game:

(US, originally baseball, countable) An excited, angry exchange of words, especially at a sporting event.

But damned if it don't seem like killin' him would stir up an even bigger political rhubarb. I mean, it ain't like nobody'd have to be told who did it.

1973, Matthew Braun, El Paso, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Paperbacks, published July 1999, →ISBN, page 142:

(US, originally baseball, by extension, countable) A brawl.


sink

en-verb

sink (third-person singular simple present sinks, present participle sinking, simple past sank or sunk, past participle sunk or sunken)

sinks (present singular third-person)
sinking (participle present)
sank (past)
sunk (past)
sunk (participle past)
sunken (participle past)

From Middle English synken, from Old English sincan, from Proto-West Germanic *sinkwan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to fall, sink”).
Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English senċan (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijaną.

der

My sister beats me at pool in public a second time. I claim some dignity back by potting two of my balls before Tammy sinks the black.

2008, Edward Keating, The Joy of Ex: A Novel:

(heading, physical) To move or be moved into something.

(transitive, snooker, pool, billiards, golf) To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.


sink

a bathroom sink sink (canonical)
sinks (plural)

Jones has a two-seamer with heavy sink.

(uncountable) Descending motion; descent.

(baseball) The motion of a sinker pitch.

Descending motion; descent.
The motion of a sinker pitch.


wicket

From Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wiket, from Old Norse (specifically, Old East Norse) víkjas, diminutive of vik. Compare modern French guichet, ultimately from the same Old Norse source.

(cricket) One of the two wooden structures at each end of the pitch, consisting of three vertical stumps and two bails; the target for the bowler, defended by the batsman.

paaltjies

cricket: wooden structure at each end of the pit

(cricket) A dismissal; the act of a batsman getting out.

(cricket) The period during which two batsmen bat together.

(cricket) The area around the stumps where the batsmen stand.

pesä

cricket: area around the stumps where the batsmen stand

(croquet) Any of the small arches through which the balls are driven.


carry the bat

en-verb

carry the bat (third-person singular simple present carries the bat, present participle carrying the bat, simple past and past participle carried the bat)

carries the bat (present singular third-person)
carrying the bat (participle present)
carried the bat (participle past)
carried the bat (past)

(cricket) To bat throughout the whole of an innings, being one of the openers and remaining not out when 10 wickets have fallen.


hopper

From Middle English hoppere, alteration of *hoppe (found in grashoppe (“grasshopper”)), from Old English *hoppa (“one who hops, hopper”), equivalent to hop + -er. Cognate with Dutch hopper (“hopper”), Swedish hoppare (“hopper, jumper”), Icelandic hoppari (“hopper”).

der

Various insects
The larva of a cheese fly.

(chess) A fairy chess piece which moves only by jumping over another piece.


caught and bowled

(cricket) Out by being caught by the bowler.


caught behind

(cricket) Out by being caught by the wicketkeeper.


caught behind

(cricket) An instance of being out by being caught behind the wicket by the wicketkeeper.


double double

Norwegian Bokmål: dobbel-dobbel

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-double double.wav

(coffee): Used by the Tim Hortons restaurant chain.

The center had 11 assists and 10 blocks tonight for a very unusual double double.

Steven Adams and Enes Kanter wreaked havoc for Oklahoma City. Kanter came off the bench to score 27 points, block three shots and add 10 rebounds. Adams had a double-double, too, with 14 points and 10 rebounds at center.

2016 November 28, Mike Vorkunov, “Despite Flash of Rose’s Prime, Knicks Are Dazed by Westbrook and Thunder”, in The New York Times:

(basketball) The achievement of a two-digit number of any two of points scored, assists, rebounds, blocks, or steals in a single game.

Nonetheless, the team gave a good accounting of themselves, and freshman Kara Rogers scored a double/double in kills and digs in her first collegiate game.

2012, Garrett, Burdeshaw, Spearman, Legacy of the Blues: a Century of Athletics at the W, page A-261:

(volleyball) Achieving two kills and two digs by a single player in one game.


change of innings

en-noun

change of innings (plural changes of innings)

(cricket) The ten-minute interval between one side's innings ending and the other side's beginning.


chucker

(cricket) A bowler who throws or chucks the ball rather than bowling it.


clean bowl

en-verb

clean bowl (third-person singular simple present clean bowls, present participle clean bowling, simple past and past participle clean bowled)

clean bowls (present singular third-person)
clean bowling (participle present)
clean bowled (participle past)
clean bowled (past)

clean (“without mistakes or errors”, adverb) + bowl.

(cricket) To bowl a batsman out with the ball hitting neither the bat nor the pads on the way to the stumps.


close of play

(tennis) The end of the final game (not to be confused with set or match) during a day at the Wimbledon Championships.


close the face

close the face (third-person singular simple present closes the face, present participle closing the face, simple past and past participle closed the face)

closes the face (present singular third-person)
closing the face (participle present)
closed the face (participle past)
closed the face (past)

(idiomatic, cricket) To turn the face of the bat inwards, in order to hit the ball to the leg side.


chuck

From earlier chock, likely imitative, but perhaps also from Middle English chokken (“to thrust, pierce, cram”), from Picard Old French chuquier (“to collide, strike”, intransitive verb), from Middle Dutch schocken (“to bump, shake”). Doublet of shock and shuck.

der

(cricket, informal) A throw, an incorrect bowling action.


chuck

en-verb

chuck (third-person singular simple present chucks, present participle chucking, simple past and past participle chucked)

chucks (present singular third-person)
chucking (participle present)
chucked (participle past)
chucked (past)

(intransitive, cricket) To throw; to bowl with an incorrect action.


bumper

Dutch: bumper

Japanese: バンパー (banpā)

Korean: 범퍼 (beompeo)

Russian: ба́мпер (bámper)


corridor of uncertainty

en-noun

corridor of uncertainty (plural corridors of uncertainty)

(cricket) The area near the batsman's off stump where, if a ball passes, the batsman is unsure whether to play it (and risk an edge) or leave it (and risk being bowled).


cow corner

cow corner (countable and uncountable, plural cow corners)

(cricket, slang) A region of the field, roughly between deep midwicket and long on.


cover point

(cricket, lacrosse) a fielding position between cover and point, about 15° forward of square; a fielder in this position.


cross bat

(cricket) The bat, when swung in a horizontal arc.


cross bat

(cricket) Of a shot: played with a cross bat.


cover drive

(cricket) A type of shot played by the batsman bringing the bat down vertically and hitting the ball along the ground in the direction of cover.


cover drive

en-verb

cover drive (third-person singular simple present cover drives, present participle cover driving, simple past cover drove, past participle cover driven)

cover drives (present singular third-person)
cover driving (participle present)
cover drove (past)
cover driven (participle past)

(intransitive, cricket) To play a cover drive shot.


rush

Perhaps from Middle English ruschen, russchen (“to rush, startle, make a loud rushing noise”), from Old English hrysċan (“to jolt, startle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hurskijan, from Proto-Germanic *hurskijaną (“to startle, drive”), from *hurskaz (“fast, rapid, quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run, hurry”).
Cognate with Old High German hursken (“to hurry, speed, incite, accelerate”), Old English horsc (“quick, quick-witted, clever”).
etymology note
An alternative etymology traces rush via Middle English rouschen (“to rush”) from Old English *rūscian (“to rush”) from Proto-Germanic *rūskōną (“to rush, storm, be fierce, be cruel”), a variant (with formative k) of Proto-Germanic *rūsōną (“to be cruel, storm, rush”) from Proto-Indo-European *(o)rewə- (“to drive, move, agitate”), making it akin to Old High German rosc, rosci (“quick”), Middle Low German rûschen (“to rush”), Middle High German rūschen, riuschen (“to rush”) (German rauschen (“to rush”)), North Frisian ruse (“to rush”), Middle Dutch ruuscen (“to make haste”), Middle Dutch rūsen (“to rush”) (Dutch ruisen (“to rush”)), Danish ruse (“to rush”), Swedish rusa (“to rush”). Compare Middle High German rūsch (“a charge, rush”). Influenced by Middle English russhen (“to force back”) from Anglo-Norman russher, russer from Old French ruser, rëuser.
Alternatively, according to the OED, perhaps an adaptation of Anglo-Norman russher, russer (“to force back, down, out of place, by violent impact", "to pull out or drag off violently or hastily”), from Old French re(h)usser, ruser (although the connection of the forms with single -s- and double -ss- is dubious; also adopted in English ruse; French ruser (“to retreat, drive back”)), from an assumed Vulgar Latin *refūsāre and Latin refundō (“I cause to flow back”), although connection to the same Germanic root is also possible. More at rouse.

раш

video games: act of running at another player with large swarm of weak units — see also zerg

the center rush, whose place is in the center of the rush line

(American football, dated) A rusher; a lineman.

(croquet) A roquet in which the object ball is sent to a particular location on the lawn.


rush

en-verb

rush (third-person singular simple present rushes, present participle rushing, simple past and past participle rushed)

rushes (present singular third-person)
rushing (participle present)
rushed (participle past)
rushed (past)

(intransitive, soccer) To dribble rapidly.

(transitive or intransitive, croquet) To roquet an object ball to a particular location on the lawn.

krokata

croquet: to roquet an object ball to a particular location on the lawn


danger area

(cricket) A rectangular protected area of the pitch on which bowlers may not run in their follow through so as to avoid damage.


remove

remove (third-person singular simple present removes, present participle removing, simple past and past participle removed)

removes (present singular third-person)
removing (participle present)
removed (participle past)
removed (past)

settle

antonym(s) of “move something from one place to another”

From Middle English removen, from Anglo-Norman remover, removeir, from Old French remouvoir, from Latin removēre, from re- + movēre (“to move”), equivalent to re- + move. Displaced native Old English āfierran.

យកចេញ

yɔɔ kɑɑ cəɲ, yɔɔk cəɲ

(cricket, transitive) To dismiss a batsman.


dead ball

(ball games) The ball when dead and out of play.


fence

en-noun

fence (countable and uncountable, plural fences)

→ Pennsylvania German: Fens

From Middle English fence, fens, short for defence, defens (“the act of defending”), from Old French defens, defense (see defence).
The sense "enclosure" arises in the mid 15th century.
Also from the 15th century is use as a verb in the sense "to enclose with a fence". The generalized sense "to defend, screen, protect" arises ca. 1500. The sense "to fight with swords (rapiers)" is from the 1590s (Shakespeare).
Displaced native Old English heġe (compare Modern English hedge).

the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence


covers

(cricket) The area of the field near cover and extra cover.


dead bat

(cricket) The bat when held with a light grip such that it gives when the ball strikes it, and the ball loses momentum and falls to the ground.


dead bat

en-verb

dead bat (third-person singular simple present dead bats, present participle dead batting, simple past and past participle dead batted)

dead bats (present singular third-person)
dead batting (participle present)
dead batted (participle past)
dead batted (past)

2022, Amit Sinha, Joy Bhattacharjya, Do Different: The Untold Dhoni
Known for his innovative and unpredictable strokeplay, Dhoni had dead-batted this doosra straight back to the bowler.

(transitive, cricket) To play (the ball) with a dead bat.


pistol

Probably from Middle French pistole, or via Middle English pistolet, from Middle French pistolet (“small firearm or small dagger”).
The origin is unclear, if via German to Romance probably from Middle High German forms like pischulle from Czech píšťala (“firearm”, literally “tube, pipe”), from Proto-Slavic *piščalь, from *piskati, *piščati (“to squeak, whistle”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pīṣk-.
Alternatively, if from Romance to German, from or related to Italian pistolese (“short dagger”), from Italian Pistoia (“a Tuscan town noted for its gunsmithing”).

der

(American football) An offensive formation in which the quarterback receives the snap at a distance behind the center, but closer than in a shotgun formation, with a running back lined up behind him.


bye

Variant form of by, from Old English bī (“being near”).

'bye' may be longer than 'bi, by and buy' for some speakers

(cricket) An extra scored when the batsmen take runs after the ball has passed the striker without hitting either the bat or the batsman.


deep cover

(cricket) a fielding position on the off side, about 30° forward of square and near the boundary; a fielder in that position.


solo

Borrowed from Italian solo, from Latin sōlus, probably related to se (“himself”).

(Gaelic football) An instance of soloing the football.


solo

en-verb

solo (third-person singular simple present solos or soloes, present participle soloing, simple past and past participle soloed)

solos (present singular third-person)
soloes (present singular third-person)
soloing (participle present)
soloed (participle past)
soloed (past)

→ Portuguese: solar

(Gaelic football) To drop the ball and then toe-kick it upward into the hands.


deep midwicket

(cricket) A fielding position on the leg side, about 30° forward of square and near the boundary; a fielder in that position.


deep square leg

en-noun

deep square leg (countable and uncountable, plural deep square legs)

(cricket) A fielding position on the leg side, square of the batsman's wicket; a fielder in that position.


square leg umpire

square leg umpire (plural square leg umpires)

(cricket) The umpire who stands at or near square leg to rule on decisions at the batsman's end of the wicket.


deep point

Buttler was the more fluent, scooping and driving, but when he was caught at deep point for 59, England still needed 46 from 31 balls.

2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport, London:

(cricket) A fielding position on the off side, square of the batsman's wicket and near the boundary


cordon

From Middle English cordon, from Middle French cordon, from Old French cordon, diminutive of corde. More at cord.

(cricket) The arc of fielders on the off side, behind the batsman: the slips and gully. [from 20th c.]


square leg

square leg (countable and uncountable, plural square legs)

(cricket) A fielding position on the leg side, square of the batsman's wicket, between leg gully and midwicket; a fielder in that position.


did not bat

Coordinate term: not out

(cricket) Denotes a player who did not bat in an innings played by their side.


fault

From Middle English faute, faulte, from Anglo-Norman faute, Old French faute, from Vulgar Latin *fallita (“shortcoming”), feminine of *fallitus, in place of Latin falsus, perfect passive participle of fallō (“deceive”). Displaced native Middle English schuld, schuild (“fault”) (from Old English scyld (“fault”)), Middle English lac (“fault, lack”) (from Middle Dutch lak (“lack, fault”)), Middle English last (“fault, vice”) (from Old Norse lǫstr (“fault, vice, crime”)). Compare French faute (“fault, foul”), Portuguese falta (“lack, shortage”) and Spanish falta (“lack, absence”). More at fail, false.

cog

It is a fault if the ball served drop in the net, or beyond the Service-Line, or if it drop out of Court, or in the wrong Court. A fault may not be taken. After a fault, the Server shall serve again from the same Court from which he served that fault.

1879, Julian Marshall, Lawn-tennis: With the Laws Adopted by the M. C. C., and A. E. C. & L. T. C., and Badminton, page 8:

A mistake or error.
(tennis) An illegal serve.

If the horse refuses an obstacle, the rider will receive four faults.

(equestrianism) A penalty point assessed in horseback events such as show jumping.


barn door

(cricket) A player who blocks every ball.


screen

From Middle English scren, screne (“windscreen, firescreen”), from Anglo-Norman escren (“firescreen, the tester of a bed”), Old French escren, escrein, escran (modern French écran (“screen”)), from Middle Dutch scherm, from Old Dutch *skirm, from Proto-West Germanic *skirmi, from Proto-Germanic *skirmiz (“fur, shelter, covering, screen”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide”).
Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen”), German Schirm (“screen”). Doublet of scherm.
An alternative etymology derives Old French escren, escran from Old Dutch *scranc (“barrier”) (compare Middle Dutch schranc, schranke (“palisade, trellis, grid”), German Schrank (“cupboard, cabinet”), German Schranke (“fence”)), from Proto-West Germanic *skrank, from Proto-Germanic *skrankaz.

der

Jones caught the foul up against the screen.

A material woven from fine wires intended to block animals or large particles from passing while allowing gasses, liquids and finer particles to pass.

(baseball) The protective netting which protects the audience from flying objects

Definitions related to standing in the path of an opposing player

(American football) Short for screen pass.

skerm

viewing area of electronic output device

(basketball) An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.

(cricket) An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to make the ball more easily visible.


screen

en-verb

screen (third-person singular simple present screens, present participle screening, simple past and past participle screened)

screens (present singular third-person)
screening (participle present)
screened (participle past)
screened (past)

(basketball) To stand so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.


defensive field

en-noun

defensive field (plural defensive fields)

(cricket) A field set with fielders in positions designed to prevent runs rather than take wickets.


come out

en-verb

come out (third-person singular simple present comes out, present participle coming out, simple past came out, past participle come out)

comes out (present singular third-person)
coming out (participle present)
came out (past)
come out (participle past)

Nigerian Pidgin: komot

Sranan Tongo: komoto

(cricket, of a batsman) To walk onto the field at the beginning of an innings.


air raid

(American football) A passing-heavy offensive scheme based on a shotgun formation with four wide receivers and a single running back.


dot ball

Such a ball is recorded in the scorebook using a dot.

(cricket) A ball off which no runs are scored.


draw stumps

draw stumps (third-person singular simple present draws stumps, present participle drawing stumps, simple past drew stumps, past participle drawn stumps)

draws stumps (present singular third-person)
drawing stumps (participle present)
drew stumps (past)
drawn stumps (participle past)

From the game of cricket, where a day's play is terminated by the umpire drawing the stumps out of the ground.

(cricket, of the umpires) To declare an end to the day's play, and remove the bails and sometimes the stumps.


Duckworth-Lewis method

Devised by two English statisticians, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis.

The Duckworth-Lewis method of resolving rain-affected games has divided the cricketing fraternity into those who do not understand it and those who pretend they do. Rumour has it that it involves calculus, astrology, quantum mechanics and the use of dice. Either way teams get screwed.

2011, Shehan Karunatilaka, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, Jonathan Cape, page 195:

(cricket) A mathematical algorithm for generating revised target scores for the side batting second in a rain-affected one-day match.


dismissal

en-noun

dismissal (countable and uncountable, plural dismissals)

From dismiss + -al. A nineteenth-century coinage (modelled on committal etc.), replacing the regular form dismission.

(cricket) The event of a batsman getting out; a wicket.


drinks

(cricket) A short break in play to allow the players to have a drink, and for quick repairs to be made to equipment or the pitch.


cutter

From Middle English cutter, cuttere, kutter. By surface analysis, cut + -er.

(cricket) A ball that moves sideways in the air, or off the pitch, because it has been cut.


shank

From Middle English schanke, from Old English sċanca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (compare West Frisian skonk, Low German Schanke, German Schenkel (“shank, leg”), Danish skank, Norwegian skank, Swedish skänkel), from *skankaz (compare Old Norse skakkr (“wry, crooked”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (compare Middle Irish scingim (“I spring”), Ancient Greek σκάζω (skázō, “to limp”).

To a good golfer a shank is disgracefuller than being dead drunk or in jail.

1953, Arnold Gingrich, The Esquire Treasury:

(golf) A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.


shank

en-verb

shank (third-person singular simple present shanks, present participle shanking, simple past and past participle shanked)

shanks (present singular third-person)
shanking (participle present)
shanked (participle past)
shanked (past)

(transitive, golf) To misstrike the ball with the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.

Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.

2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport:

(transitive, chiefly tennis, soccer, gridiron football) To hit or kick the ball in an unintended direction.


FA

Football Association
w:Football Association

(soccer) Initialism of Football Association, especially the English Football Association. See also Scottish FA and Welsh FA.


extra cover

(cricket) A fielding position on the off side, about 45° forward of square, between cover and mid off.


economy rate

(cricket) A bowler's statistic, being the average number of runs conceded per over.