sport

(countable) Any activity that uses physical exertion or skills competitively under a set of rules that is not based on aesthetics.

Jen may have won, but she was sure a poor sport; she laughed at the loser.

The loser was a good sport, and congratulated Jen on her performance.

(countable) A person who exhibits either good or bad sportsmanship.

You're such a sport! You never get upset when we tease you.

(countable) Somebody who behaves or reacts in an admirably good-natured manner, e.g. to being teased or to losing a game; a good sport.

Think it but a minute spent in sport.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

Her sports were such as carried riches of knowledge upon the stream of delight.

c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Thirde Booke] Chapter 21”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC, folio 283, recto:

The little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon.

a. 1765, year of origin unknown, Hey Diddle Diddle (traditional rhyme)

(archaic) That which diverts, and makes mirth; pastime; amusement.

Why then make ſport at me, then let me be your ieſt

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 58, column 2:

(archaic) Mockery, making fun; derision.

flitting leaves, the sport of every wind

1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

Never does man appear to greater disadvantage than when he is the sport of his own ungoverned passions.

a. 1676, John Clarke, On Governing the Temper:

(countable) A toy; a plaything; an object of mockery.

(uncountable) Gaming for money as in racing, hunting, or fishing.

We never shot another like it, so I do not know if it was a `sport' or a distinct species.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

At Hortus Bulborum you will find heirloom narcissi that date back at least to the 15th century and famous old tulips like 'Duc van Tol' (1595) and its sports.

2014 September 26, Charles Quest-Ritson, “The Dutch garden where tulip bulbs live forever: Hortus Bulborum, a volunteer-run Dutch garden, is dedicated to conserving historic varieties before they vanish for good [print version: Inspired by a living bulb archive, 27 September 2014, p. G5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening):

(biology, botany, zoology, countable) A plant or an animal, or part of a plant or animal, which has some peculiarity not usually seen in the species; an abnormal variety or growth. The term encompasses both mutants and organisms with non-genetic developmental abnormalities such as birth defects.

(slang, countable) A sportsman; a gambler.

(slang, countable) One who consorts with disreputable people, including prostitutes.

(obsolete, uncountable) An amorous dalliance.

"Say, sport!" he would say briskly.

1924 July, Ellis Butler, “The Little Tin Godlets”, in The Rotarian, volume 25, number 1, Rotary International, page 14:

(informal, usually singular) A friend or acquaintance (chiefly used when speaking to the friend in question)

Hey, sport! You've gotten so big since I saw you last! Give me five.

Term of endearment used by an adult for a child, usually a boy.

1725-1726, William Broome, The Odyssey
An author who should introduce such a sport of words upon our stage […] would meet with small applause.

en-noun

sport (countable and uncountable, plural sports)

→ Belarusian: спорт (sport)

→ Bulgarian: спорт (sport)

→ Catalan: esport

→ Cebuano: esport

→ Czech: sport

→ Danish: sport

→ Dutch: sport (see there for further descendants)

→ French: sport (see there for further descendants)

→ Georgian: სპორტი (sṗorṭi)

→ German: Sport (see there for further descendants)

→ Hebrew: ספורט

→ Hungarian: sport

→ Irish: spórt, spóirt (Cois Fharraige)

→ Italian: sport

→ Latvian: sports

→ Lithuanian: sportas

→ Lower Sorbian: sport

→ Macedonian: спорт (sport)

→ Norman: sport

→ Northern Kurdish: spor

→ Norwegian: sport

→ Polish: sport

→ Brazilian Portuguese: esporte

→ European Portuguese: desporto

→ Russian: спорт (sport) (see there for further descendants)

→ Scottish Gaelic: spòrs

→ Serbo-Croatian: sport / спорт

→ Swahili: spoti

→ Swedish: sport

→ Thai: สปอร์ต (sà-bpɔ̀ɔt)

→ Uzbek: sport

Japanese: スポーツ (supōtsu)

Korean: 스포츠 (seupocheu)

sport

any athletic activity that uses physical skills

خلوق

somebody who behaves or reacts in an admirable manner

pelaaminen

gaming for money as in racing, hunting, fishing

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English sporten (verb) and sport, spoort, sporte (noun), apheretic shortenings of disporten (verb) and disport, disporte (noun). More at disport.


sport

children sporting on the green

(intransitive) To amuse oneself, to play.

Jen sports with Bill's emotions.

He sports with his own life.

1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious:

(intransitive) To mock or tease, treat lightly, toy with.

Jen's sporting a new pair of shoes; he was sporting a new wound from the combat

But despite its plague of tunnels, the run-in on this route is of unusual interest to the locomotive enthusiast: besides the hordes of self-important saddle-tanks shunting in the extensive yards, there was at one time the chance of seeing those slender little North London engines, with their large outside cylinders and no visible storage place for coal, and also an occasional South Eastern locomotive sporting a lot of polished brass.

1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704:

[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].

2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

He was especially happy to see one of the most important discoveries make it to the screen: dinosaurs that sported feathers. But judging from the emails he has been receiving, some moviegoers did not share his excitement.

2023 June 3, Carl Zimmer, “How Did Birds First Take Off?”, in The New York Times:

(transitive) To display; to have as a notable feature.

Against whom do ye sport yourselves?

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 57:4:

(reflexive) To divert; to amuse; to make merry.

Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth.

1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

(transitive) To represent by any kind of play.

To practise the diversions of the field or the turf; to be given to betting, as upon races.

more than one kind of rose has sported into a moss

1860, Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication:

To assume suddenly a new and different character from the rest of the plant or from the type of the species; said of a bud, shoot, plant, or animal.

There he locked it up in a drawer, sported the doors of both sets of rooms, and retired to bed.

(transitive, archaic) To close (a door).

en-verb

sport (third-person singular simple present sports, present participle sporting, simple past and past participle sported)

sports (present singular third-person)
sporting (participle present)
sported (participle past)
sported (past)