pass rusher

A late-scoring push forced overtime, but even in added time, the team was forced to go for a field goal on their initial drive after a pass rusher forced an overthrow from Purdy. This allowed Mahomes in and the emerging all-time great doesn’t often make mistakes.

2024 February 12, Ben Morse and Steve Almasy, “Kansas City Chiefs defeat San Francisco 49ers in OT in Super Bowl LVIII, become first back-to-back NFL champions in 19 years”, in CNN.com:

(American football) A defensive player who engages in a pass rush, who attempts to sack or pressure the quarterback.


white ball

Kohli says that his white-ball batting is essentially an extension of his Test batting.

2017 January 28, Jonathan Liew, “To cling together or drift apart? Red and white-ball cricket facing a divided future”, in The Daily Telegraph, London:

Adil Rashid has put his ambitions for a Test return on hold and negotiated a new white-ball deal at Yorkshire after losing some of his appetite for the first-class game. ... “I’ve made the decision to just concentrate on white ball, something which makes me very happy and gives me the best chance of improving my cricket,” said Rashid.

2018 February 15, Ali Martin, Vithushan Ehantharajah, “Adil Rashid opts out of first-class cricket for 2018 season”, in The Guardian, London:

limited overs cricket
limited overs cricket

(cricket, metonymic) limited overs cricket, as distinct from first-class cricket


chest down

en-verb

chest down (third-person singular simple present chests down, present participle chesting down, simple past and past participle chested down)

chests down (present singular third-person)
chesting down (participle present)
chested down (participle past)
chested down (past)

(ball games, especially soccer) to control a high ball with the chest (for example, in order to shoot, dribble, or pass it)

mit der Brust annehmen (cf. Brustannahme)


side mover

From side + mover. Calque of Japanese 横行 (ōgyō), which is composed of 横 (“side”) and 行 (“to go”).

(shogi) A shogi piece, used in chu shogi and larger variants, which has range movement to the sides and can take one step forward or back.


scout team

(American football) A group of players on a team, often from the practice squad who emulate the style of play of future opponents so that the starting players can practice against them.


practice squad

(American football) A group of players who are not eligible to play in games, but who participate in practices.


out for a duck

From the use of duck to mean a batsman's score of 0 in cricket.

The inevitable happened - I was out for a duck and was furious when I got back to the dressing room.

2012, Andrew Flintoff, Ashes to Ashes: One Test After Another:

The batsman out first ball is out for a duck, no matter how fervently and frequently he replays the awful moment in his mind's eye; a missed catch is a drop, however intricate and extenuating the context; and wickets claimed in the post-match bar do not count, even if the bowler believes them "deserved".

2013, Robert Winder, The Little Wonder: The Remarkable History of Wisden:

Shaw's five victims included Australian skipper, David Gregory, out for a duck.

2014, Philip Barker, Lord's Firsts: 200 Years of Making History at Lord’s Cricket Ground, page 98:

(cricket) Having batted no hits for the entire game.


broken field

Quarter-backs this year who have gained considerable notice are Fallis of Haskell Indians and Pooler of Kansas University, they both being very good in a broken field.

1905, Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide, page 169:

The forward passer receives the ball, runs a yard or two as a feint, and then, with scarcely a look over the broken field, selects a person and a place and throws the ball.

1972, Chronicle of American Physical Education, page 383:

Barely two minutes after the interval the margin was reduced to just a single point after Elliot Daly, under a bit of pressure, knocked on 40 metres from his own line and gave the Wallabies a broken field to play with.

2019 October 19, Robert Kitson, “England into World Cup semi-finals after bruising victory over Australia”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media:

(rugby, American football) A field in which there are defensive players from the other team between the player who has the ball and the goal.


front-rower

The Wallaby defence was too easily spilt by Farrell’s snappy midfield miss-pass, allowing a beaming Sinckler to storm untouched through the unguarded heart of the defence. The Harlequins front-rower used to be a fly-half in his youth but this was the stuff of any prop forward’s dreams.


prop forward

(rugby) A forward who acts as a prop in a scrum.


dot down

dot down (third-person singular simple present dots down, present participle dotting down, simple past and past participle dotted down)

dots down (present singular third-person)
dotting down (participle present)
dotted down (participle past)
dotted down (past)

[…]Makazole Mapimpi became the first Springbok try scorer in a RWC final when he dotted down in the 67th minute.

2019 November 3, Liam de Carme, “Boks, you beauties”, in Sunday Times:


alertable

Bids marked in red on the convention card must be alerted. Cue-bids of an opponent's suit, however, are not alertable.

1991, Albert Hodges Morehead, Edmond Hoyle, The New Complete Hoyle, page 165:

ln general, natural bids are not Alertable.

1994, Audrey Grant, The Spade Series: An Introduction to Duplicate Bridge, page 165:

To alert those calls you may use the alert card in the bidding box or simply say "alert" when partner makes an alertable call.

2009, Jean J. Reaves, Conventional Wisdom Plus: A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Bridge Conventions:

(bridge) Requiring the partner of the person making a bid to alert the opponents that the bid's meaning involves a partnership understanding that is not readily understood.


limit bid

OK, you are the captain (partner opened with a limit bid).

2009, Eric v.d. Luft, How I Became a Life Master Playing the Weak No Trump, page 18:

When the responder made a limit bid, the opener may already be in a position to name the final contract.

2011, David Bird, Bridge Made Easy: Flash, page 5:

If you raise a partner's opening suit bid from one to two, it is also a limit bid, showing six to nine points.

2012, Harry Lampert, The Fun Way to Serious Bridge, page 62:

(bridge) A bid that describes the bidders hand fairly precisely (indicating a small range of high card points and some indication of shape.)


non-alertable

To my dismay, the editorial in this month's Bridge World takes the opposite position, arguing that under the rules as written, alerting a non-alertable bid is a violation.

2018 May 24, Marty Harris, “Alert after non forcing bid”, in Bridge Winners:

(bridge) Not alertable; Not requiring the partner to alert as part of a partnership agreement.


COYBIG

(soccer) Acronym of come on you boys in green, a chant in support of Celtic F.C. and the Republic of Ireland national football team.


knothole section

en-noun

knothole section (plural knothole sections)

The regular Knothole section was in the right field pavilion, but sometimes the left field pavilion was open as well. The two sections would compete to see which one could root the loudest. After 1938 the Knotholers sat in the upper deck of the pavilions and stomped their feet on the metal floor until the noise reached a deafening crescendo. The teams played more and more night games after World War II, and as a result, Knothole days became fewer and fewer.

1987, Richard Miller, Gregory L. Rhodes, “The Life and Times of the Old Cincinnati Ballparks”, in Queen City Heritage, volume 45, number 2, Cincinnati Historical Society, pages 25–41:

The next year, I sat in the Knothole section for the Northwestern game. Iowa won that day, too, 28–21. Within a few years, I went from kid-in-the-Knothole-section to photographer’s spotter on the sideline during Evashevski’s outstanding seasons.

2003, Ron Maly, Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, Sports Publishing, →ISBN, page viii:

… mission in the north end zone, affectionately called The Knothole Section (TKS). Elementary and junior and senior high school students by the thousands filled the cheap seats and not only for the game. It was a social happening, because sanctioned gathering spots for kids were scarce.

2006, William Teten, Very Truly, Tudey: An Austin Anthology, Old Austin Press, →ISBN, page 57:

This collector explained how as a young boy he dove for the balls when thrown into the stands at the knothole section.

2017 October 15, Terry Hutchens, Bill Murphy, Indiana Hoosiers Fans' Bucket List, Triumph Books, →ISBN, page 173:

(colloquial, especially baseball) The section of cheap seats in a stadium favored by youth spectators.


brushback pitch

brushback pitch (plural brushback pitches)

(baseball) A pitch that comes very close to the batter, forcing them to move back from the plate.


jet sweep

(American football) A play where a wide receiver catches a short pitch, then runs left or right prior to running downfield.


coffin corner

coffin corner (American football)
coffin corner (aerodynamics)

During that second half, Carideo, one of Notre Dame's greatest punters, repeatedly kept SMU bottled up deep in its own territory on “coffin-corner” punts which invariably went out of bounds inside the Mustangs' 10-yard line.

2010, Jack Cavanaugh, The Gipper: George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football:

Kick it hard, kick it deep, and aim for the coffin corner when close enough to the opponents' end zone.

2014 November 7, “Rugby-style kicking helps Chiefs' Colquitt take punting to another level”, in Kansas City Star:

His ability to find the coffin corner pinned countless opponents deep in their own zone, and even when he didn’t have the big numbers that some other CFL punters did, he was always considered to be one of the very best directional punters in the league.

2019 November 28, Daniel Austin, “Rob Maver announces retirement after 10 seasons with Stampeders”, in Calgary Herald:

During his career, Higgins punted 135 times for an average of 43.5 yards, with 40 in the "coffin corner".

2019 December 13, “Higgins gets third All-America honor”, in The Marshall Democrat-News:

(American football) A corner of the field formed by the opponent's goal line and a sideline, into which a punt is often aimed in order to force the opposition to play close to their goal line.


mini-baccarat

(card games) A version of baccarat played at smaller tables for lower stakes, and having some differences in the rules.


Monty Haul

A pun on the name of game-show host Monty Hall and the word haul.

Munchkinism is similar to "Monty Haul" gaming; however it involves playing at incredible power levels purely for the sake of watching the terrain get blown away by player characters who are unstoppable.

1993 February 22, Magnus, “What is Munchkinism? What does the Wizard of Oz have to do with roleplaying games?”, in (Usenet):

(gaming, slang, often attributive) A dungeon or scenario that offers the player great rewards for minimal risk.


Ammie

From amateur + -ie, from the club's former name, the Salford Amateurs.

(soccer) Someone associated with Salford City F.C., as a fan, player, coach etc.


puppy foot

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

From the resemblance of the club symbol to the pads of a dog's paw.

(card games, slang) A card in the suit of clubs.


bosie

(cricket, obsolete) Alternative form of bosey.


suicide squad

The most violent men in pro football play on the suicide squads.

1971, LIFE, volume 71, number 23, page 3:

(American football, slang) Synonym of special team.


ABU

(UK, soccer, slang) Initialism of anyone but United: a fan who dislikes Manchester United and will support any team that is playing against them.


eighter from Decatur

(US, slang, gambling) An eight in the game of craps.


pea shake

(US, Indiana, gambling) An illicit numbers game or lottery, with the numbers marked on small balls or "peas".


ring in one's nose

So, the dealers are thinking, “What a mamaluke! The guy's got a ring in his nose!” But then he comes back and plays some more. And all the guys like him, because he's funny and he's one of the boys and he tips big.

2010, Steven R. Schirripa, Charles Fleming, The Goomba's Book of Love:

He admitted in a dugout interview in 1969 that there was a time when he “had a ring in his nose” and once lost $8,000 two days in a row at the track.

2017, Paul Dickson, Leo Durocher: Baseball's Prodigal Son:

(gambling, slang) A compulsion to gamble regardless of one's losses.


fairbank

en-verb

fairbank (third-person singular simple present fairbanks, present participle fairbanking, simple past and past participle fairbanked)

fairbanks (present singular third-person)
fairbanking (participle present)
fairbanked (participle past)
fairbanked (past)

I keep on fairbanking the chump until he is between a poop and a sweat. The score is half a C and he's broke.

1935, Henry Louis Mencken, George Jean Nathan, The American Mercury, volume 35, page 227:

I didn't check the dart board for the winner's precise total and will assume he hadn't been “fairbanked.” The guy didn't look like a professional, so I attributed his success to the lean and lady luck.

2009, Richard Margittay, Carnival Games: the Perfect Crimes, page 279:

(gambling, slang, transitive) For the bank or dealer to assist (the player) by cheating in his/her favour, to encourage further play and facilitate a later swindle.


falling leaf

So called from the gradual "drifting" motion like a leaf falling from a tree.

(soccer) A dated kicking technique used to put the ball into a swaying movement that makes it harder to estimate its trajectory.


castler

From castle + -er (patient suffix) or + -er (agent noun suffix).

(chess, informal) A chess problem whose solution involves castling.


Billy Williams' Cabbage Patch

Named after committee member William Williams, involved in purchasing the land as a market garden in 1907.

(rugby, slang) Twickenham Stadium, England.


rainbow shot

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

In reference to the arched shape of a rainbow.

Even after Spooner dropped in one of his patented rainbow shots from the left side and Schulz scored on another tip-in, Quincy still held a two-point lead with half a minute to go in the third quarter.

2002, Scott Johnson, Julie Kistler, Once there were giants: how tiny Hebron won the Illinois state basketball championship and the hearts of fans forever, page 158:

(basketball) A high arcing shot into the basket.


Three-I League

(US, baseball, historical) A Minor League Baseball organization that operated mainly in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa.


Three-Eye League

(US, baseball, historical, humorous) Synonym of Three-I League.


percentage dice

(gambling) Dice that have been tampered with for the purpose of cheating.


misspot

Tops and Bottoms (also Tops, Busters, Ts, Mis-spots): These are the dice used by the professional cheats.

1961, John Scarne, Complete Guide to Gambling, page 283:

(gambling) A die marked with the wrong number of spots.


Spanish Torture

(chess, colloquial, humorous) Synonym of Ruy Lopez.


Queen's Gambit Declined

(chess) A chess opening characterized by the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6.


platinum duck

(cricket) The score of zero runs after getting out on the first ball of a team's innings.


diamond duck

(cricket) Synonym of platinum duck (“score of zero runs after getting out on the first ball of a team's innings”).

platinum duck

(cricket) The situation where a batsman is dismissed without facing a ball (most usually run out from the non-striker's end, but alternatively stumped or run out off a wide delivery).


pocket universe

en-noun

pocket universe (plural pocket universes)

I set it in a 'pocket universe' based on role-playing games.

2013, Frank Garcia, Mark Phillips, Science Fiction Television Series, 1990-2004, page 118:

[…] the simulationist sought a game system that created "a little pocket universe without fudging."

2014, Evan Torner, William J. White, Immersive Gameplay, page 79:

(gaming) A small, self-contained fictional universe that borrows concepts from established universes.


double chicane

(bridge) The situation where a player and his/her partner both hold hands without trumps.


beat your neighbour out of doors

beat your neighbour out of doors (uncountable)

(card games) Synonym of beggar-my-neighbor.


beat my neighbour out of doors

beat my neighbour out of doors (uncountable)


double tackle

It was the key breakthrough – and rich reward for the determined double tackle by Booth, who simply didn't give up.

(rugby) A tackle by two players of the same time on an opposition player.


comeout

(gambling) The initial roll of the dice in craps.


RB

(American football) Initialism of running back.


HCP

HCP (countable and uncountable, plural HCPs)


ninth-inning

en-adjective

ninth-inning (comparative more ninth-inning, superlative most ninth-inning)

more ninth-inning (comparative)
most ninth-inning (superlative)

In baseball, the ninth inning is the last period of the game.

(baseball) Happening in the ninth inning of a baseball game.


Chel

(UK, slang, soccer) A supporter of the English football club Chelsea F.C..


low post area

(basketball) The areas that are closest to the basket but outside of the free throw lane.


low post

(basketball) The low post area area on a basketball court.


jewel box

(baseball) A member of the second major generation of professional ballparks, built between 1909 and approximately 1940 and distinguished by a relatively compact layout, the use of steel and reinforced concrete as structural materials rather than wood, and the presence of one or more close-in upper decks of seating supported by pillars extending from the lower deck.


Lombardi-esque

en-adj

Lombardi-esque (comparative more Lombardi-esque, superlative most Lombardi-esque)

more Lombardi-esque (comparative)
most Lombardi-esque (superlative)
Lombardiesque (alternative)

Players were still passing out “Gator Bowl Champions” hats and celebrating with their Lombardi-esque trophy when Muschamp, speaking to the roughly 10,000 fans lingering in the stands, didn't fully buy into the revelry.

2012 January 3, Greg Luca, “Muschamp minimizes Gator Bowl win as Florida avoids losing season”, in The Independent Florida Alligator:

In the past, each Super Bowl has had its own logo. But this year the NFL is switching to a generic logo based on the Lombardi Trophy. […] while the Super Bowl may be the biggest event on the planet, the Lombardi Trophy still ain't no Stanley Cup, no matter how many Lombardi-esque logos the NFL comes up with.

2011 February 3, Paul Lukas, “Super Bowl XLV primer on aesthetics”, in ESPN.com:

(American football) Resembling or like the Lombardi trophy.


dumby

(card games) Archaic form of dummy (“hand shown to be played from by another player”).


touchdown pass

en-noun

touchdown pass (plural touchdown passes)

Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner, threw for 5,671 yards and set a Football Bowl Subdivision record with 60 touchdown passes — the final 12 of which came in his last two games, blowouts over Oklahoma and Clemson, to propel L.S.U. to a national title.

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

(American football) A pass in which the receiver then scores a touchdown.


hog molly

General Manager Dave Gettleman swoons over “hog mollies” — his nomenclature for enormous offensive linemen — and that, no doubt, is a priority for him as he builds around quarterback Daniel Jones. In Andrew Thomas, the Giants have their hog molly.

(American football) A very large and obese player, especially in the offensive line.


running lane

Shortly after Donaldson received the throw, Andrus slyly observed that the catcher’s left hand was in the running lane.

2021 May 16, Martín Gallegos, “3 key moments from A's wild road-trip finale”, in MLB News, MLB:

(baseball) The portion of the field between the basepath and the foul ball line in which a batter is allowed to run without causing or receiving interference. Also referred to as runner's lane.

On the field, Brown thwarted triple-teams, mauled quarterbacks and stuffed running lanes.

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

(American football) An informal division of a football field indicating the channel through which a player will run either to catch a pass or when carrying the ball.


edge rusher

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.

(American football) A defensive player who runs on the outside of the field, making a turn at the last minute to get to the offensive player who has the ball.


safety spot

Competing for the safety spot are soph Mike Hincewicz and freshman Gary Marshall, a small player in Davis' mold at 6-0, 155 pounds.

1970, Princeton Alumni Weekly - Volume 71, page 10:

But with Samari Rolle at the other corner and Blaine Bishop at the other safety spot, the team will find a combination that works.

2001, Craig Carter, Pro Football Guide, page 94:

(American football) The position of defensive safety; a position furthest from the line of scrimmage whose responsibility is to defend against passes as well as to be the tackler of last resort.


route runner

“The best route runner I have ever seen,” Vincent said. “When he was with the Rams, then over to Washington, he was real clever. He made everything look alike. You didn't know whether he was running a two-yard route or a 'go.'

2006, Gordon Forbes, Tales from the Eagles Sideline, page 61:

You must have great awareness to be a great route runner.

2012, Merritt J. Norvell, Route Running for Wide Receivers:

He has a slightly-limited route tree as primarily a vertical deep threat. He is a sufficient route runner despite underutilizing his size during the stem phase.

2021, Matt Manocherian, SIS Football Rookie Handbook 2021:

After plucking Courtland Sutton in the second round last year, the Denver Broncos needed to complement him with another receiver, preferably one who can stretch the field now that Pro Bowl wideout Emmanuel Sanders has left for New Orleans.
Jerry Jeudy, a polished route-runner who can line up anywhere in a formation, fits that description.

(American football) A receiver who is good at finding a route through the defensive players on the other team in order to get into position.


receiving yard

In addition to putting up nearly 3,300 receiving yards and 32 touchdown receptions in three college seasons, he was also the main punt returner for the Sooners.

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

(American football) Yard gained by the offense on a play in which a receiver caught the ball.


forced throw

As he'd promised, Donny Doyle had been in the Bucks quarterback's face all day, except for the time he'd dropped to cover the running back and made a clean pick of Franks' forced throw.

2007, Phil Truman, Game: Some Have It, Some Don't, page 102:

His film — from last season, especially — also contains instances of lapsed mechanics, forced throws and shaky field vision.

(American football) A throw to a teammate from the player who is running with the ball in order to avoid being tackled.


tackle for loss

tackle for loss (plural tackles for loss)

The Seattle Seahawks, who are defensive minded but have slipped in recent years, chose Jordyn Brooks, a linebacker from Texas Tech. He led the team in tackles in three of his seasons at Tech. He also had 20 tackles for loss and three sacks last year, when he injured his shoulder.

(American football) A tackle that causes a loss of yardage for the opposing running back or wide receiver.


boundary corner

boundary corner (plural boundary corners)

The field corner and boundary corner line up on number 1 strong and number 1 weak, respectively.

2000, Dick tomey, Rich Ellerson, Larry MacDuff, and Johnnie Lynn, “Swarming the Offense”, in American Football Coaches Association, editor, Defensive Football Strategies, page 80:

If Cover 4 is played with the strong safety in a cloud position and the boundary corner as the deep- one-half defender, the boundary corner has similar alignment and responsibility as in Cover 5.

2008, Ron Vanderlinden, Football's Eagle & Stack Defenses, page 34:

Even if the 5-foot-10 Gladney doesn’t stick as a boundary corner because of his size, his coverage skills, tenacity and feistiness make him an ideal candidate to flourish in the slot.

(American football) A defensive position, responsible for covering the deep half of the field on the boundary side.


point-shave

en-verb

point-shave (third-person singular simple present point-shaves, present participle point-shaving, simple past and past participle point-shaved)

point-shaves (present singular third-person)
point-shaving (participle present)
point-shaved (participle past)
point-shaved (past)
point shave (alternative)

You can recall the scandals that have occurred in the various colleges, of attempts to point-shave and fix games.

1972, Public Hearing Before Gambling Study Commission, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

He had been sentenced to ten years in prison for conspiring to point-shave in six BC games during the 1978–79 season.

1987, Richard Edward Lapchick, Robert Malekoff, On the Mark: Putting the Student Back in Student-athlete, page 56:

Similarly, at Northwestern University, basketball players Kenneth Dion Lee and Dewey Williams were paid $4,000 to point-shave and fix the outcome of games against Penn State University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Michigan in 1995.

2003, Nevada Law Journal - Volume 4, page 323:

(sports, gambling) To deliberately perform badly in a game as part of point shaving.


play-by-mail

Heimito Gerhardt, a fan of gaming by mail, presented Conrad and me with our own play-by-mail kits as he accompanied us to the bus station. It so happened that Heimito corresponded with Rex Douglas (one of Conrad's idols), the great American gamer and star writer for one of the most prestigious of the specialized journals, The General.

2011, Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer, The Third Reich, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 25:

(games) Describing a game that can be played in a turn-based fashion through postal mail or email.


play-by-mail

THE COST is $25 per month or $60 for 3 months. Each month includes one grand strategy turn and 4 or 5 weekly situation turns. This is an average of less than $4 per turn, just a little more expensive than other play-by-mails, and you get detailed descriptions and color maps with each turn.

1997 December 9, Christopher A. McNair, “Re: world war: smart gamers needed”, in alt.games.wargames (Usenet):


play-by-email

(games) Describing a game that can be played in a turn-based fashion through email.


blanagram

Blend of blank + anagram, from the use of the blank tile to represent any letter.

PHYLETIC and VELOCITY are blanagrams of LIPOCYTE.

(Scrabble) A word which is an anagram of another but for the substitution of a single letter.


reverse forecast

en-noun

reverse forecast (plural reverse forecasts)

(gambling) A combination of two forecast bets to select the first and second place winners of a race in any order.


backgame

The strategy of the backgame is very similar to the defensive strategy discussed earlier; i.e., you begin to make your points inside your inner table and wait for him to leave a blot.

1977, Nicolaos S. Tzannes, Basil Tzannes, Backgammon Games and Strategies, page 65:

We are also taught that we should not commit to a backgame until we have to and that we should try to win by going forward if at all possible.

When playing a backgame, you need to have at least two anchors in your opponent's home board, ideally on their 2- and 3-points.

2007, Michael Crane, Teach Yourself Backgammon, page 27:

(backgammon) A game in which a player blocks the opponent's progress by forming two or more points in the opponent's home board.


USSF

U.S.S.F. (alternative)
U. S. S. F. (alternative)
U.S. SF (alternative)
U. S. SF (alternative)
US S.F. (alternative)
US S. F. (alternative)
U.S. Soccer (alternative)
United States Soccer Federation (alternative)

United States Soccer Federation
United States Soccer Federation#English

(US, soccer, sports) Initialism of United States Soccer Federation.


OPS+

on-base plus slugging
on-base plus slugging

(baseball) The baseball metric on-base plus slugging adjusted for the park and the league in which the player played, but not for fielding position.

On-base plus slugging#Adjusted OPS (OPS+)


pennantless

(baseball) Not having won a competition.


victory point

A dominant country in Empires in Arms will gain 15 victory points every economic phase.

(games, usually in the plural) In games, and especially board wargames, points that count towards ultimate victory, as distinct from points that count towards other aspects of game play.


screen pass

(American football) A short pass to a receiver protected by blockers.


Kelly's eye

(bingo) A traditional call for the number one.


Maggie's den

An allusion to prime minister Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street.

(bingo) A traditional call for the number ten.


pie rule

From the idea of dividing up a pie fairly: one person cuts and the other chooses a slice.

(games) A rule used in certain strategy games for the purpose of fairness, where immediately after the first player's initial move the opposing player may optionally switch, taking over the first player's role and position for the rest of the game.


Elam ending

(basketball) A basketball rule where, for all or part of the fourth quarter, teams play to a target score rather than a set amount of time.


buzzer-beater

buzzer-beaters (plural)
buzzer beater (alternative)

In the sense of beating out the buzzer which ends a game.

The Knicks immediately went 7-0 upon Lin's insertion in the lineup. He dropped 38 against the Lakers and beat Toronto with a buzzer-beater.

2013, Pete Birle, On the Hardwood: New York Knicks, MVP Books, →ISBN, page 40:

(basketball, idiomatic) A shot that wins (or in some usage, ties) a game at the last possible moment.


en plein

(gambling) Being a simple bet on a single specific outcome, especially a number in roulette.


pricemaker

(gambling) A person who determines the odds to be offered to bettors.


pass-dice

The game was pass-dice. A young stranger held the dice, and had already won four times […].

1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 25:

(obsolete, dice games) The game of passage.


false number 9

From the traditional use of the number 9 for centre-forwards, and the difference from a traditional centre-forward, who would stay near the line of defenders until an opportunity arose to move past them toward goal.

not in his favoured midfield role, either but as a false No 9: the sort of role Guardiola only hands to his chosen, crystalline few: Mario Götze at Bayern Munich (less successfully), Lionel Messi at Barcelona (a little more so).

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

(soccer) An unconventional lone striker or centre-forward who drops deep into midfield.


handgame

handgame (countable and uncountable, plural handgames)

handgames (plural)
hand game (alternative)
hand-game (alternative)

(games) A Native American guessing game, in which marked "bones" are concealed in the hands of one team while another team guesses their location.


Cincitucky

(American football, slang, by extension) The Cincinnati Bengals.


dealer's choice

dealer's choice (plural dealer's choices)

(card games) A game in which the dealer decides what variant to play and/or what stakes are to be bet.


pitchometer

A batter's best hope for hitting one of these 90 mile-per-hour missiles that reached the plate in just less than a second was his 200 mph swing. Speeds were then measured by electronic “pitchometers”; in 1946 Bob Feller's fastball could be timed at 98.6 mph.

1983, David Quentin Voigt, American Baseball, volume III: From Postwar Expansion to the Electronic Age, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, published 1992, →ISBN, page 71:

A “pitchometer” was installed on the scoreboard to time the pitchers. According the baseball rules a pitcher had to throw a pitch within 20 seconds after he received the ball from the catcher when there was nobody on base.

2003, John E. Peterson, The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History: 1954–1967, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 210:

(baseball) A device used in baseball to measure the speed of a pitch or the time a pitcher spends between pitches thrown.


outyard

en-verb

outyard (third-person singular simple present outyards, present participle outyarding, simple past and past participle outyarded)

outyards (present singular third-person)
outyarding (participle present)
outyarded (participle past)
outyarded (past)

From out- + yard (“unit of length equal to 3 feet”).

af

Although Oklahoma outyarded the Jays 339 to 155, Kansas fought magnificently and earned its 13-13 tie. Royal's punting had begun to jell. He kicked four out-of-bounds against the Crimson and Blue.

1984, Harold Keith, Forty-Seven Straight: The Wilkinson Era at Oklahoma, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 28:

(American football) To gain more yards than.


arber

(finance, gambling, informal) One who engages in arbitrage; an arbitrageur.


the other way

(baseball, of a batted ball) To the opposite side of the plate relative to the batter.


WSL

Women's Super League
w:Women's Super League

(soccer) Initialism of Women's Super League.


call balls and strikes

en-verb

call balls and strikes (third-person singular simple present calls balls and strikes, present participle calling balls and strikes, simple past and past participle called balls and strikes)

calls balls and strikes (present singular third-person)
calling balls and strikes (participle present)
called balls and strikes (participle past)
called balls and strikes (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-call balls and strikes.wav

The San Rafael Pacifics and Vallejo Admirals, two independent (not major league-affiliated) minor league teams, recently played two games using a computer system, rather than the home plate umpire, to call balls and strikes.

2015 August 10, Alex Shultz, “Rise of the machines? Baseball weighs use of automated strike zone”, in LA Times:

(baseball) To act as a home plate umpire.


pig's eye

(card games, slang, obsolete) The ace of diamonds.


Rose Bowl

(US, American football) The annual NCAA college football championship game typically played on New Year's Day.


toe-crushing

en-adj

toe-crushing (comparative more toe-crushing, superlative most toe-crushing)

more toe-crushing (comparative)
most toe-crushing (superlative)

(cricket, slang) Of a delivery: directed at the feet of the facing batsman.


murder mystery

en-noun

murder mystery (plural murder mysteries)

(games) A game in which one or more players are tasked with killing off all other players, who in turn must identify the murderers and vote them out or otherwise remove them from the game.


backheader

(soccer) A hit of the ball with the back of the head


overplay one's hand

en-verb

overplay one's hand (third-person singular simple present overplays one's hand, present participle overplaying one's hand, simple past and past participle overplayed one's hand)

overplays one's hand (present singular third-person)
overplaying one's hand (participle present)
overplayed one's hand (participle past)
overplayed one's hand (past)

(card games) To bet too much or play too aggressively based on one's excessive optimism in the quality of their cards.


outruck

outruck (third-person singular simple present outrucks, present participle outrucking, simple past and past participle outrucked)

outrucks (present singular third-person)
outrucking (participle present)
outrucked (participle past)
outrucked (past)

So potent, indeed, was this offensive amalgam that it almost obliterated further questions. Anything that was not it had attractions: the Welsh rugby team, outrucking Chamberlain and Hoare and Halifax and the young toffs they'd persuaded to stand in for them - Raymond Williams, Wales and England, 1983.

(rugby) To outplay an opponent in a ruck


leg theory

(cricket, dated) The tactic of bowling at or near the line of leg stump, so as to cramp the batsman.


right-half

He had grown up admiring his United predecessor Eddie Colman, a right-half of greater natural gifts, who died in the Munich air disaster of 1958. By that time Stiles had already represented England schoolboys as a right-half, displaying attacking talents that would be somewhat inhibited in his later career.

2020 October 30, Brian Glanville, “Nobby Stiles obituary”, in The Guardian:

(soccer, dated) A player who plays wide on the right side of midfield


inside-forward

He had grown up admiring his United predecessor Eddie Colman, a right-half of greater natural gifts, who died in the Munich air disaster of 1958. By that time Stiles had already represented England schoolboys as a right-half, displaying attacking talents that would be somewhat inhibited in his later career.
He made his debut for United, in fact, as an inside-forward in the 1960-61 season, playing 26 league matches and scoring twice.

(soccer, dated) A forward playing on one side of the centre forward, but not as wide as the outside-forward


outside-forward

(soccer, dated) A forward playing on the wing, wider than the inside-forward


left-half

(soccer, dated) A player who plays wide on the left side of midfield


word snake

(games) A type of puzzle where words need to be located in a long chain of unspaced letters, usually in a wavy line.


charge the mound

charge the mound (third-person singular simple present charges the mound, present participle charging the mound, simple past and past participle charged the mound)

charges the mound (present singular third-person)
charging the mound (participle present)
charged the mound (participle past)
charged the mound (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-charge the mound.wav

(baseball, of a batter) To run towards the pitcher's mound with the intent of physically assaulting the pitcher for a perceived grievance.


Hammarby

(sports) Hammarby IF.
(soccer) Hammarby IF Fotboll.


check cop

Aside from that the professional gambler may use the "check cop" to diminish the pile of checks which the Opponent may have, or may use his own marked cards if he can manage to get them into the game

1924, Science and Invention in Pictures, volume 12, page 146:

(gambling, slang) An adhesive used by cheats to steal chips or coins from a stack using the palm of the hand.


cocked hat double

en-noun

cocked hat double (plural cocked hat doubles)

Davis was left with a choice to either double the black into the top right hand pocket, or play the black around the angles with a chance of making a cocked hat double into the centre pocket.

(snooker) A type of double of the called ball off three cushions, usually around the colours, with the aim of potting into the centre pocket while keeping the cue ball safe.


touch-in-goal

touch-in-goal (plural touch-in-goals or touches-in-goal)

touch-in-goals (plural)
touches-in-goal (plural)
touch in goal (alternative)

(rugby, historical) The part of the field behind the goal line and beyond the touch line. Any ball entering this zone would be considered out of play.


touch judge

(rugby) An official who monitors the touch line to signal if the ball (or a player holding the ball) goes out of play, and to signal if the ball goes through the goal posts during a penalty or conversion.


batting collapse

batting collapse (plural batting collapses)

(cricket) A succession of batsmen or batswomen getting out without adding many runs to the team's score.


Man Utd

Manchester United Football Club
w:Manchester United Football Club

(soccer) Abbreviation of Manchester United Football Club.


GOTY

GOTYs (plural)
GotY (alternative)
Goty (alternative)

(games, initialism, acronym) Abbreviation of game of the year (an honor conferred upon a game).


colourbound

The bishop is a colourbound piece.

(chess) Able to access only squares of one colour (either black or white).


priyome

Borrowed from Russian приём (prijóm, “reception, admission, method”).

bor

(chess) tactics that depend on pawn structure


hurry-up offense

en-noun

hurry-up offense (plural hurry-up offenses)

(American football) An offensive style in which the offensive team avoids delays between plays, sometimes also avoiding or shortening the huddle to limit or disrupt defensive strategies and flexibility.


royal fork

(chess) A move in which a piece or pawn attacks the opposing king and queen simultaneously.


flankerback

flankerbacks (plural)
flanker back (alternative)

(rugby, American football) A back whose task is to receive the ball from a scrum.


flexbone

(American football) A formation involving three running backs in which a fullback is lined up behind the quarterback and two slotbacks are lined up behind the line of scrimmage at each end of the offensive line.


upman

(American football) A player of the return team at kickoff


calcutta

(pool) A form of auction in which people invest in a player's success


cheatability

(billiards, snooker) The extent to which a pocket is cheatable


cheat the pocket

en-verb

cheat the pocket (third-person singular simple present cheats the pocket, present participle cheating the pocket, simple past and past participle cheated the pocket)

cheats the pocket (present singular third-person)
cheating the pocket (participle present)
cheated the pocket (participle past)
cheated the pocket (past)

(billiards, snooker) To pot a ball in the edge, rather than the middle, of a pocket.


chesney

(billiards, snooker) An indentation in the slate of a table that affects the path of a ball travelling over it


cotgrave

(billiards, snooker) A fluke in which a pot or snooker is obtained by accident


cuemaker

(pool, billiards, snooker) A manufacturer of cues


highrun

highruns (plural)
high run (alternative)
high-run (alternative)

(billiards, snooker) A series of successful shots that is lengthy for the player's level of skill


poolshark

(pool, billiards, snooker) A hustler who deliberately disrupts a game for his own advantage


stakehorse

(billiards, snooker) A person who bets (backs with a stake) on a player


stakehorse

stakehorse (third-person singular simple present stakehorses, present participle stakehorsing, simple past and past participle stakehorsed)

stakehorses (present singular third-person)
stakehorsing (participle present)
stakehorsed (participle past)
stakehorsed (past)

(billiards, snooker) To bet on the outcome of a game


tip tool

tip tools (plural)
tiptool (alternative)

(billiards, snooker) Any device used to maintain the tip on a cue


unshimmed

(pool, of a pocket) Not fitted with shims


goalshooter

Sunshine Girls captain and goalshooter Jhaniele Fowler has expressed her delight after finishing second in the voting for Netballer of the Year.Fowler picked up 27 votes, 10 behind England's Geva Mentor, who was claiming the top spot for the second...

2019 January 16, Robert Bailey, “Stories By Robert Bailey/Gleaner Writer”, in Jamaica Gleaner:

(netball) Alternative form of goal shooter.


buck the tiger

buck the tiger (third-person singular simple present bucks the tiger, present participle bucking the tiger, simple past and past participle bucked the tiger)

bucks the tiger (present singular third-person)
bucking the tiger (participle present)
bucked the tiger (participle past)
bucked the tiger (past)

(informal, gambling) To gamble on a game of faro.


buy the rack

buy the rack (third-person singular simple present buys the rack, present participle buying the rack, simple past and past participle bought the rack)

buys the rack (present singular third-person)
buying the rack (participle present)
bought the rack (participle past)
bought the rack (past)

In reference to the racks on which gambling tickets were once offered for sale.

If there are ten horses in each race, there are 100 possible selections, and the total cost of “buying the rack” would be $200.

1949, Ernest Evred Blanche, You Can't Win: Facts and Fallacies about Gambling, page 66:

(gambling) To place bets on all possible combinations for the daily double.


go for the gloves

go for the gloves (third-person singular simple present goes for the gloves, present participle going for the gloves, simple past went for the gloves, past participle gone for the gloves)

goes for the gloves (present singular third-person)
going for the gloves (participle present)
went for the gloves (past)
gone for the gloves (participle past)

Perhaps from the old custom of ladies betting their gloves, expecting to be paid if they won but not to pay if they lost.

(gambling) To bet against a racehorse on the chance of its losing, without having the wherewithal to pay if it wins.


queening square

en-noun

queening square (plural queening squares)

(chess) A square on the first or eighth rank which a pawn may reach in order to become a queen (or other major piece).


banking game

(card games, gambling) A gambling game in which one or more punters play against a banker, who controls the game.


wicketkeep

en-verb

wicketkeep (third-person singular simple present wicketkeeps, present participle wicketkeeping, simple past and past participle wicketkept)

wicketkeeps (present singular third-person)
wicketkeeping (participle present)
wicketkept (participle past)
wicketkept (past)

The boy can seriously wicketkeep, but he can only just bat, and like Darren Berry before him he was born in the wrong generation.

2009, Jarrod Kimber, The Year of the Balls 2008: A Disrespective, page 33:

Obviously, I can wicketkeep as well if something happened to Tim.

2021 January 4, Scott Bailey, “Wade happy to live by opening move”, in The West Australian:


six-ace flat

(gambling) A loaded die fashioned so that the numbers 1 and 6 come up more frequently than others.


go the route

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-go the route.wav

It was like old times: Grove, Earnshaw, and Walberg went the route seven times in the next 13 games.

2015, Norman L. Macht, The Grand Old Man of Baseball:

(baseball) To pitch for an entire game, without a relief pitcher.


NWSL

National Women's Soccer League
w:National Women's Soccer League

(soccer) Initialism of National Women's Soccer League - the top league of women's soccer in the US.


antepost

From ante- + post, the second component in the sense of the traditional "betting post", a stake set up at a racecourse to signal the beginning of fixed betting.

(gambling) Being a kind of bet, in horse-racing and greyhound racing, placed before the racecourse's betting market has opened, on the expectation that the price of the animal is presently more favourable than it will be when the market opens.


cork up

cork up (third-person singular simple present corks up, present participle corking up, simple past and past participle corked up)

corks up (present singular third-person)
corking up (participle present)
corked up (participle past)
corked up (past)

I'm sure's been corking up.

He must have corked up that bat.

(transitive, intransitive, baseball) To put cork in a baseball bat; to use a baseball bat with cork in it.


back-rower

With 17 minutes remaining, Townsend opted to freshen up his pack, bringing on props Oli Kebble and WP Nel and back-rower Gary Graham.

2021 February 6, Graham Bean, “Scotland beat England at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years”, in The Scotsman:

(rugby) A player who plays in the back row of the scrum.


quinela

(gambling) Alternative form of quiniela.


Lions

(cricket) The Sri Lanka national cricket team.

(soccer) Singapore national football team


bust-out man

Now it is reasonable to assume that some of those winners were professional dice-hustlers and "bust-out" men, the latter term meaning one proficient in switching misspotted dice in and out of a game.

1956, Clyde Brion Davis, Something for Nothing, page 88:

They started out dealing craps in my uncle's joint and I've used both of them as bust-out men in my joint and I know he got beat.

1969, Bruce Jackson, A Thief's Primer, page 165:

Many rug and carpet joints in Nevada and elsewhere have, at one time or another, been cheated out of vast sums of money by bust-out men. In 1967, a top casino on the Las Vegas Strip was taken for $350,000 in several plays by dice cheats.

1978, John Scarne, Scarne's Guide to Casino Gambling, page 173:

(gambling, slang) A cheat who surreptitiously exchanges normal dice with crooked ones such as "busters".


grind joint

Keep away from out-of-the-way casinos. Keep away from grind joints. The Flamingo Capri, for example, is a sleeping giant. It will earn a mint of money. It's on the Strip but it isn't for you. It's a grind joint.

1984, Lyle Stuart, Casino Gambling for the Winner, page 168:

(gambling, slang) A low-end casino where games are played for small stakes.


Plachutta

From Joseph Plachutta, who first identified this tactic.

(chess) A sacrificial move in chess which is played with the intention of fatally interfering with the opponent's combination attacking or defensive position.


heartsette

(card games) An early variant of the game of hearts, having a set of cards called the widow that must be taken by the player winning the first trick.


Klaberjass

(card games) A certain trick-taking card game in which the jack and nine of trumps earn the highest scores.


DPR Korea

Democratic People's Republic of Korea#English

(especially soccer) Initialism of Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

CHDCND Triều Tiên

Democratic People's Republic of Korea — see also DPRK, North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea


bracket buster

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

(US, basketball, informal) An American college basketball team that unexpectedly defeats a higher-ranked team in a tournament.


extended spider

en-noun

extended spider (plural extended spiders)

(snooker) A spider (type of rest) in which the head is extended in front in order to reach over intervening balls


overbowl

en-verb

overbowl (third-person singular simple present overbowls, present participle overbowling, simple past and past participle overbowled)

overbowls (present singular third-person)
overbowling (participle present)
overbowled (participle past)
overbowled (past)


mouse slip

(computer chess) An unintentional mouseclick due to jittery or imprecise movement of a mouse.


mouse slip

mouse slip (third-person singular simple present mouse slips, present participle mouse slipping, simple past and past participle mouse slipped)

mouse slips (present singular third-person)
mouse slipping (participle present)
mouse slipped (participle past)
mouse slipped (past)


OHK

OHK (third-person singular simple present OHKs, present participle OHKing, simple past and past participle OHKed)

OHKs (present singular third-person)
OHKing (participle present)
OHKed (participle past)
OHKed (past)


Hob Collingwood

(card games, obsolete, UK, North Country) The four of hearts, considered an unlucky card.


skin the lamb

(obsolete, card games) The game of lansquenet.


skin the lamb

skin the lamb (third-person singular simple present skins the lamb, present participle skinning the lamb, simple past and past participle skinned the lamb)

skins the lamb (present singular third-person)
skinning the lamb (participle present)
skinned the lamb (participle past)
skinned the lamb (past)

(slang, archaic, gambling) Of a bookmaker: to win all of his bets, in the case where nobody backed the winner.


take-that game

(gaming, informal) A board game or card game that encourages players to attack their rivals, for example using special cards that impose undesirable effects.


Irish loo

(card games) A form of lanterloo with no dummy and in which players are permitted to exchange their cards.


Jacoby transfer

en-noun

Jacoby transfer (plural Jacoby transfers)

Popularized by a 1956 article in The Bridge World by Oswald Jacoby.

(bridge) A convention in most bridge bidding systems initiated by responder following partner's no-trump opening bid that forces opener to rebid in the suit ranked just above that bid by responder.


Earl of Cork

(Ireland, slang, obsolete, card games) The ace of diamonds.


long handle

Lucas again well set, being ultimately secured in his anxiety to give them the long handle, having played perfect cricket for his century.

1883, Uppingham School Magazine, page 236:

You may leave your ground even to fast bowling on slow wickets if you think you can bring off a hit by so doing, and generally hold the bat nearer the top and give her the long handle.

1889, Allan Gibson Steel, Robert Henry Lyttelton (Hon.), Cricket (page 77)

Tissera played two fine innings, of 53 and 17 not out and P. I. Peiris (30) wielded the long handle.

1999, S. S. Perera, S. Muthiah, The Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket, 1832-1996, page 300:


five-pointer

But they will have wanted to capitalise on the opportunities for five-pointers they created in that first half.

2023 October 28, Leighton Koopman, “YES!!! The Springboks beat the All Blacks to win another Rugby World Cup title”, in Independent Online:


case the deck

en-verb

case the deck (third-person singular simple present cases the deck, present participle casing the deck, simple past and past participle cased the deck)

cases the deck (present singular third-person)
casing the deck (participle present)
cased the deck (participle past)
cased the deck (past)

(card games, gambling) To memorize which cards have been played thus far.


dice mechanic

(gambling) A cheat who manipulates the dice.


comeback money

Lots of people notice at the track that the tote board will change at the last moment; odds will drop on a horse from 20 to 1 to 8 to 1, something like that, which means that all comeback money has just come in.

1950, United States. Congress. Senate, Hearings, volume 5, page 81:

The "comeback money" may represent large bets which illegal bookmakers are unable to "lay off" among themselves, bets which no one in the bookmaking organization desires to hold.

1951, United States. Congress. Senate. Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Congressional Serial Set (volumes 1-4, page 162)

(gambling) Money that is used by an agent of a bookie to place a large bet on a horse who has large odds, thereby causing the odds on that horse to decline, reducing the bookie's potential losses in the event that the horse wins.


hole carding

(card games) The (licit or illicit) obtaining of knowledge of cards that are supposed to be hidden from view.


first basing

(blackjack) A form of hole carding in which a player peeks at the hole card as the dealer checks it.


outkick one's coverage

outkick one's coverage (third-person singular simple present outkicks one's coverage, present participle outkicking one's coverage, simple past and past participle outkicked one's coverage)

outkicks one's coverage (present singular third-person)
outkicking one's coverage (participle present)
outkicked one's coverage (participle past)
outkicked one's coverage (past)

Sometimes a punter will outkick his coverage, but the majority of the time there's some decision-making involved.

2018, John Powers, Fridays with Bill: Inside the Football Mind of Bill Belichick:

But when the punter outkicked his coverage, White decided to disobey his coach's orders and run with the ball.

2022, Tyler Bridges, Five Laterals and a Trombone:

(American football) To kick the ball so far downfield that one's teammates do not have time to get into position to block or tackle the opponent who catches it.


superbat

When Tony Greig, in a meaningful and provocative interview, asked Sarfaraz background of betting and match-fixing, the Pakistan "superbat" categorically stated that it should start with Asif Iqbal and Gavaskar who, according to him, were the "original fixers"..

2017, K R Wadhwaney, Indian Cricket Controversies:

(cricket) A superb batsman or batswoman.


batting pad

(cricket) One of a pair of soft padded coverings that protect the legs of the person batting; a pad or bat-pad.


Hector protector

en-noun

Hector protector (plural Hector protectors)

Vaseline in the cricket shoes, chilli powder in his hector protector, that sort of thing is Australian cricket's natural method of correction.

2004 March 12, The Chaser, Sydney, page 20, column 3:

(cricket, slang) A hard protector for the genitals worn inside the underpants by a batsman or close fielder; a box.


run feast

Well, he and Sid had a run feast, putting on more than 400 runs together.

1990, Ashes: Battles and Bellylaughs, Byron Bay: Swan Publishing, page 146:

(cricket) A lengthy bout of scoring many runs.


pull shot

His stand-in [...] was felled by a pull shot struck with tremendus power by England pace bowler and tailend batsman, Dick Pollard.

1990, Ashes: Battles and Bellylaughs, Byron Bay: Swan Publishing, page 32:

(cricket) A type of stroke by which a leg ball is sent to the off side, or an off ball to the on side.


strokemaster

(cricket, tennis) A player who hits the ball excellently.


orthodox spinner

orthodox spinner (plural orthodox spinners)


pad up

en-verb

pad up (third-person singular simple present pads up, present participle padding up, simple past and past participle padded up)

pads up (present singular third-person)
padding up (participle present)
padded up (participle past)
padded up (past)

Normally only one batsman is padded up and Dean Jones was listed to bat next.

1990, Ashes: Battles and Bellylaughs, Byron Bay: Swan Publishing, page 201:

(cricket, intransitive) To put on batting pads preparatory to taking the field to bat.

He padded up for the Bears in 1997.

(American football, intransitive) To put on pads to ready oneself to play American football; to play for a team.


hand mucker

No one likes to be cheated by a hand mucker. The card players had drunk a lot of beer. They had all won their share of hands. So why the hell not? He slipped an ace of hearts up his sleeve and waited for a hand that could use it.

(gambling, slang) A cheat who covertly adds or removes cards during a card game.


flat passer

(gambling, slang) A crooked die that is shaved down on certain sides to produce the desired rolls more frequently.


mechanic's grip

en-noun

mechanic's grip (plural mechanic's grips)

(card games) A way to hold a deck of playing cards in the hand, facilitating card tricks and cheating.


race-norming

(American football) The practice of adjusting downwards the cognitive ability scores of players of colour.


time control

(especially chess) A mechanism in the tournament play of two-player board games in which each player has a set amount of time per game; the specific parameters of such a mechanism.

Bedenkzeit

mechanism in which each player has a set amount of time

Smyslov was a piece up against him with two moves to go before time control when he missed three winning lines and drew.

2014, Andrew Soltis, Soviet Chess 1917-1991, page 243:

(chess) A point in the game in which the parameters of the time limits increase, especially in classical chess.


over-the-board

It is extremely difficult to prove cheating in over-the-board chess and there is no evidence of wrongdoing on Niemann’s part at the event.

2022 September 7, Sean Ingle, “Magnus Carlsen leaves Sinquefield Cup amid Niemann chess ‘cheating’ furore”, in The Guardian:

(chess, of a match) Taking place in person with players facing each other across the chessboard, as opposed to correspondence games, online tournaments, etc.


boomerang kick

Australian rules football
Australian rules football

(Australian rules football, rugby) A kick that sends the ball in a curved trajectory.


power of the pencil

In the casino business, they call it the power of the pencil. As casino host I had the ability to sign away a guest's restaurant tabs, wipe out all room or suite charges, give away almost any casino and hotel bills.

2008, Barry Sinkow, The Count $ in Monte Carlo: An Insider's Look at Casino Life, page 182:

Mafia pit bosses had the 'power of the pencil' to hand out free rooms, food and beverages at their discretion, […]

(gambling) The authority to charge a punter's gambling or other bills to the casino.


Little Joe

Little Joe and big Dick from Boston have been hitting fine. I got enough for baby's new shoes and a Caddy too.

2003, Scott Cool, Dick Schmelzkopf, Gambler's Book of Poetry, page 12:

(gambling, dice games) The point of four in the game of craps.


Little Joe from Kokomo

(gambling, dice games) Synonym of Little Joe (“the point of four in the game of craps”).


Namyats

Reversed spelling of Stayman, the surname of Victor Mitchell's bridge partner, Samuel Stayman.

(bridge) A conventional agreement to open hands with a long major suit that are too strong for a direct preemptive opening with a 'two-under' transfer bid. When the long suit is in hearts, opener bids 4♣, and when it is in spades, opener bids 4♦.


Muiderberg

Named after the Dutch village that was home to its inventors, Onno Janssens and Willem Boegem.

(bridge) A bidding convention, a two-level preemptive opening based on a two-suiter with precisely a five-card major and a minor suit (four-card or longer). The 2♥ opening denotes five hearts and an unknown minor suit, whilst 2♠ denotes five spades and an unknown minor suit.


brown sticker

(bridge) Designating a category of contract bridge conventional agreements that are difficult to defend against, and thus only permitted at high levels of tournament play.


HUM

highly unusual method
w:highly unusual method

(bridge) Initialism of highly unusual method: any of a class of contract bridge bidding systems that require advance preparation to contend with, and are usually restricted to the highest levels of tournament play.


Grace's card

(Ireland, card games) The six of hearts.


sandwich pick

(baseball) A type of draft pick awarded to Major League Baseball teams for the loss of free agents under certain conditions, and taking place in the supplemental round between the first and second rounds of the MLB amateur draft.


winkle squeeze

(bridge) A squeeze in which a trick is offered to the defenders but whichever wins the trick is then endplayed.


top bin

(soccer, slang) The upper left- or right-hand corner of the goal.


one-hit kill

Coordinate term: one turn kill

(chiefly gaming) A kill requiring only a single hit.


one-hit kill

en-verb

one-hit kill (third-person singular simple present one-hit kills, present participle one-hit killing, simple past and past participle one-hit killed)

one-hit kills (present singular third-person)
one-hit killing (participle present)
one-hit killed (participle past)
one-hit killed (past)

(chiefly gaming) To kill in a single hit.


tenuki

(go, shogi) playing elsewhere; ignoring the opponent's last move.


triple single

From triple double. Popularized and possibly Coined by American basketball player and commentator Charles Barkley.

coinage

(basketball) The accumulation of nine or fewer each of points, rebounds and assists a single game.


yawk

(slang, African-American Vernacular, MLE, gaming, rare) imitative for the sound of a shot in particular of a gun.


yawk

en-verb

yawk (third-person singular simple present yawks, present participle yawking, simple past and past participle yawked)

yawks (present singular third-person)
yawking (participle present)
yawked (participle past)
yawked (past)
yock (alternative)
yuck (alternative)

(slang, African-American Vernacular, MLE, gaming, rare, ambitransitive) to shoot, to make an impact (on) by or as if by firing.


Mickey Mouse ring

en-noun

Mickey Mouse ring (plural Mickey Mouse rings)

2020 NBA Bubble
Championship ring
LeBron James

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Likely from Mickey Mouse (“of inferior quality”), or in reference to the 2020 NBA Bubble shortened basketball season held at Walt Disney World, or both of these; with ring as a metonym for “championship” after the Championship ring presented to members of winning teams.

After the Lakers won their little Mickey Mouse ring, LeBron went to the church of victimhood as he often does, and talked about what a ‘huge challenge’ it was to be in Orlando.

2020 December 3, Will Leitner, quoting Ben Maller, “The Ben Maller Show: 'Stop Acting Like LeBron's Championship at the NBA's Bubble Was Challenging'”, in Fox Sports Radio:

Occasional jabs about James and his supposed 'Mickey Mouse' ring haven’t really stuck.

2020 December 31, Marc Stein, “From Kobe to LeBron: Tragedy and Triumph in the N.B.A.”, in New York Times:

But this upsets many fans, leading to widespread comments all over social media such as a Mickey Mouse Ring/Win/Championship (in reference to how the NBA bubble was at Disney World) to underline how these competitions are not authentic enough because of coronavirus's impact on how well teams can play.

2021 March 17, “The Medic: NCAA's March Madness offers real threat for pandemic madness”, in Daily Trojan, University of Southern California, page 1:

Lakers/LeBron haters have lamely labeled last year’s title, which featured a mental and emotional toll unlike any other in NBA history, a Mickey Mouse ring.

2021 June 17, Adam Caparell, “'Stop putting an Asterisk on Every NBA Champion'”, in Complex Sports Magazine:

(informal, derogatory, basketball, US) The 2020 NBA championship won by the Los Angeles Lakers.


boot one

[…] to jeer at him when he booted one or fanned with a crucial run on base.

1998, Eliot Asinof, Man on Spikes, page 68:

[…] he played short with sweet ease, and looked good even when he booted one, […]

2002, Brooke Horvath, Tim Wiles, Line Drives: 100 Contemporary Baseball Poems, page 92:


scratch hit

(baseball) A weakly hit ground ball that eludes the infielders and leads to a base hit.


flat joint

(gambling, slang) Synonym of flat store (“crooked gambling establishment”).


The Hundred

(cricket) A short form of professional cricket that lasts for 100 balls.


dead hand

dead hand (countable and uncountable, plural dead hands)

(card games) A hand that is dealt but not used during a card game.


leg sweep

(cricket) A sweep shot played to the leg side


El Tri

El Tri have just defeated Japan in a 3-1 victory

(soccer) Nickname for Mexico's National Football Team


IPL

Indian Premier League
w:Indian Premier League

(cricket) Initialism of Indian Premier League.


clickety click

(bingo) A traditional call for the number sixty-six.


blitz out

en-verb

blitz out (third-person singular simple present blitzes out, present participle blitzing out, simple past and past participle blitzed out)

blitzes out (present singular third-person)
blitzing out (participle present)
blitzed out (participle past)
blitzed out (past)

Alexander Grishchuk provided the much-needed fireworks on the board, as six out of nine of his games were decisive. The Russian is well known for giving his fans a heart attack by blitzing out moves in the final seconds of time control and if he hadn't been a chess player, my best guess is that he would have been in a bomb squad saving lives. It remains to be seen if Grischuk can change his timing style and do justice to his actual playing style.

2015 September 3, Pradeep, “Grand Chess Tour 2015: Levon Aronian wins the Sinquefield Cup”, in Sportskeeda:

The players blitzed out their opening moves until Carlsen played the rare 8 .... h6, a line only seen twice previously at the highest level.

2021 December 10, Bryan Armen Graham, “Magnus Carlsen retains world chess title after final Ian Nepomniachtchi blunder”, in The Guardian:

Typically in chess, the first eight to ten moves follow an established theory or line of play and top grandmasters blitz out these moves. After that, towards mid-game, it gets complicated, with far too many variables, permutations and combination. That is where human creativity, intuition, and genius comes in.

2022 September 7, Chidanand Rajghatta, “Magnus puts the magnifying glass on cheating in chess”, in The Times of India:

(chess) To play moves very quickly, as if playing blitz chess.


sharbing

(gambling, informal) The use of a betting shop's coupons and a betting exchange to create an arbitrage position.


table shuffleboard

From being a counter-sized adaptation of shuffleboard.

shuffleboard table
shuffleboard table#English

(sports, games) A game and sport, played on a shuffleboard table, over 20ft/6m long, with weighted steel pucks, frequently found in bars and pubs. The aim is to slid the smooth-bottomed pucks into the tiered endzones, and achieve a score without being knocked out by competitor pucks. Similar in play to a cross between curling and shuffleboard.


shuffleboard table

en-noun

shuffleboard table (plural shuffleboard tables)

table shuffleboard
table shuffleboard#English

(sports, games) A type of game table, used as the playing surface for the sport and game of table shuffleboard. Typically a with solid wood surface shuffleboard, over 6m/20ft long.


SOTCW

Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers#English

(gaming) Initialism of Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers.


Lionesses

The Lionesses were given their biggest test of the year by a talented, albeit injury-hit, Brazilian side but delivered more silverware as their momentum continues to gather pace before this summer's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

2023 April 6, Emma Sanders, “Women's Finalissima:England beat Brazil in dramatic shootout”, in BBC Sport:

Weakened by a string of injuries and the retirement of star players, the Euro 2022-winning Lionesses will need luck on their side to stop the USA lifting their third successive title[.]

2023 July 15, Suzanne Wrack, “Can the England women’s football team pull off the World Cup dream?”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(soccer, informal) England women's national football team


dunk on

en-verb

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

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

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(transitive, informal, basketball) To perform a slam dunk over (a defender).


beat Jack out of doors

(card games) Synonym of beggar-my-neighbor.


pawn cube

(chess, informal) A situation in which four of one player's pawns are positioned on adjacent files and adjacent ranks forming a 2×2 square.


potato opening

(chess) A variant of the Reti Opening in which white moves its queen's rook pawn to a4 on the third move (1. Nf3 d5 2. a4).


six-stitcher

Monte’s nose was lumpy from where a cricket ball had broken it. ‘A real six-stitcher too, Mr Delarue.’

1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 33:


corked bat

(baseball) A bat that has been tampered with by drilling out part of the head of the bat and filling the resulting cavity with a light, compressible material (typically cork) in an attempt to improve the bat's performance (although performance is in fact degraded by corking the bat), rendering it illegal for use in play.


spadilla

(card games) The queen of clubs, in certain games.


fly route

(American football) A pattern run by a receiver, straight upfield towards the end zone, with the aim of outrunning any defensive backs and getting behind them, catching an undefended pass while running untouched for a touchdown.


circle runner

(handball) A player who plays along the six-meter line with his/her back facing the opponent's goal, and tries to get in between the defenders to create space so that a teammate can get in. The circle runner can also receive a pass and try to score.


Shasta Sam

(card games) A variant of the card game California Jack in which the stock of undealt cards is kept face-down.


sohai

From Cantonese 傻閪 /傻𲈹 (so⁴ hai¹, “stupid cunt”).

bor

(Malaysia, vulgar, gaming) dumbass; idiot


big Dick from Boston

Mother grimaced when he spat on the dice and exclaimed about Big Dick from Boston and eight the hard way.

(gambling, dice games) A roll of ten in the game of craps.


collar the bowling

en-verb

collar the bowling (third-person singular simple present collars the bowling, present participle collaring the bowling, simple past and past participle collared the bowling)

collars the bowling (present singular third-person)
collaring the bowling (participle present)
collared the bowling (participle past)
collared the bowling (past)

Heatley and Baines then got together, and succeeded in collaring the bowling, and put on 60 before they were separated, and, when Heatley was caught far out for 38, the score stood at 151.

The fact was that Mr. Bruce and Mr. Whitmore (who was stupidly run out in the first innings, else the same thing might not improbably have happened then) went in first, and collared the bowling in the first twenty minutes, […]

1872, Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume 22, page 166:

(cricket) (Of a batsman) to hit the bowled balls to all parts of the field.


down and distance

en-noun

down and distance (plural downs and distances)

The choice to punt at this down and distance is unusual.

(American football) The game situation described using the current scrimmage down and the yardage required to either the line to gain, or the goal line if no line to gain exists.


bring the wood

en-verb

bring the wood (third-person singular simple present brings the wood, present participle bringing the wood, simple past and past participle brought the wood)

brings the wood (present singular third-person)
bringing the wood (participle present)
brought the wood (participle past)
brought the wood (past)

(American football) To play, especially to tackle, with great force.


for choice

White is for choice due to his development and space advantage, but the weakened white king position gives Black some counterplay.

2014, Larry Kaufmann, Sabotage the Grunfeld!

(chess) having a nondecisive advantage; slightly winning


flight square

(chess) An unattacked square to which the king can therefore move, usually in the context of checks.


back rank

(chess) The row on the board on which the pieces (e.g. king, queen) start.


proposition player

en-noun

proposition player (plural proposition players)


hand-out

(racquets, real tennis, squash) A player to whom a ball is served.


spot card

(card games, US) A playing card which is not a picture card; a card of low value.


out of book

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(chess) No longer following commonly played theoretical lines analyzed in opening books; in territory unfamiliar to one or both of the players.


960 is the number of possible initial positions of Chess960.

Before a Chess960 game a starting position is randomly set up, subject to certain rules.

2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, page 28:

Fischer random chess
Fischer random chess#English

(chess) Synonym of Fischer random chess.


Fischer random chess

Coined by chess player Bobby Fischer in 1996.

coin

(chess) A chess variant that differs from standard chess in that the pieces on the back ranks are almost completely shuffled.


ladder mate

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The attacking pieces nudge the king one rank or file at a time, like climbing the rungs of a ladder, until reaching the edge of the board.

(chess) A checkmate pattern in which two major pieces team up to push the enemy king to one side of the board.


Arabian mate

Possibly named such because the pattern was also possible in shatranj, the Middle Eastern predecessor to chess which included rooks and knights but had many other differences.
According to various sources, the mate is described in an eighth century Arabic manuscript, but this claim could not be substantiated. The pattern, however, does appear as a solution to a position presented in an anonymous Arabic-language manuscript that was copied in 1257 (original source of material unknown).

(chess) A checkmate pattern in which a rook provides the checkmate to the cornered king while being protected by a knight that also covers the only would-be escape square.


Blind Swine Mate

en-noun

Blind Swine Mate (plural Blind Swine Mates)

Blind Swine Mates (plural)
blind swine mate (alternative)

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Coined by Dawid Janowski who referred to doubled rooks on the 7th rank as "swine".

(chess) A checkmate pattern in which the king is confined to two squares at an edge of the board and then mated by two doubled rooks.


Boden's mate

Boden's mates (plural)
Boden's Mate (alternative)

Named after Samuel Boden, who won a game in 1853 in London against unnamed strong German amateur player R. Schulder in a spectacular fashion with this pattern following a queen sacrifice.

(chess) A checkmate pattern in which two bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate while the king is boxed in from the other side, usually by friendly pieces.


above the rim

Basketball went from a game of set shots and long jumpers to a game played above the rim, characterized by earth-shattering dunks.

2003, Walter M. Kimbrough, Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs, and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, →ISBN, page 111:

The same male-centric phenomenon takes place in basketball, where the “standard” version of the game is played above the rim while the “watered-down” female version is played below the rim (and with a smaller ball).

2017, Rick Eckstein, How College Athletics Are Hurting Girls' Sports: The Pay-to-Play Pipeline, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 149:

Whereas Erving made his impact above the rim Curry is expanding what we never thought was expandable - the jump shot.

2021 December 13, Bob Padecky, “Stephen Curry has made jump shot an art form”, in The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, California:

(basketball) [handing the ball] higher than the rim of the basket (such as during a slam dunk or alley oop)


epaulette mate

epaulette mates (plural)
epaulet mate (alternative)

Due to perceived visual similarity between rooks and epaulettes.

(chess) A checkmate pattern in which the losing side's king is unable to escape because its two surrounding parallel flight squares are occupied by pieces of its own color. Most commonly occurs with two rooks on the back rank.


IQP

Isolated Queen Pawn
w:Isolated Queen Pawn

(chess) Initialism of Isolated Queen Pawn.


suffocation mate

suffocation mate (plural suffocation mates)

(chess) A checkmate pattern in which a bishop "suffocates" the enemy king (by taking away its flight squares), while a knight delivers checkmate.


Cozio's mate

Named after Carlo Cozio, who published a work discussing the pattern in 1766.

(chess) A checkmate pattern in which a queen, supported by a piece of its same color, is placed diagonally adjacent to the enemy king. The two flight squares that the queen does not control are occupied by pieces of the king's own color.


David and Goliath mate

David and Goliath mate (plural David and Goliath mates)

From the biblical account of David and Goliath.

(chess) A checkmate delivered by a pawn.


morning line

(gambling) A bookmaker's list of competitors and probable odds, published before the opening of the betting.


back-rank mate

(chess) A checkmate delivered by a major piece along the back rank against a king whose advancement is prevented by pieces of its own color (most commonly pawns).


time scramble

(chess) A situation in which one or both players have very little remaining time on their clocks, therefore increasing the chance of inaccuracies or blunders being played as well as the risk of flagging.


only move

Andersson must accept the piece sacrifice and after doing so find a whole series of only moves.

2015, Jurgen Kaufeld, Guido Kern, Grandmaster Chess Strategy, page 141:

In such positions, failure to comply with an only move means instant death

2019, Cyrus Lakdawala, Winning Ugly in Chess:

(chess) The only move to maintain the current evaluation of the position.


resignable

en-adj

resignable (comparative more resignable, superlative most resignable)

more resignable (comparative)
most resignable (superlative)

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The ending is resignable for White, down two pawns, with nothing to show for it.

2015, Cyrus Lakdawala, 1…b6: Move by Move:


bulge in the onion bag

en-noun

bulge in the onion bag (plural bulges in the onion bag)


match ball

(soccer) The ball used in a particular match. It is often given to the man of the match after the game.


seven come eleven

(gambling) A superstitious incantation hoping for a favorable initial (comeout) roll of seven or eleven in the game of craps.


onion bag

From the resemblance to the net bags in which onions are sold.

You ponce, you slag, pop it in the onion bag.

2002, Fat Les (band), Who Invented Fish and Chips? (song)


let something ride

en-verb

let something ride (third-person singular simple present lets something ride, present participle letting something ride, simple past and past participle let something ride)

lets something ride (present singular third-person)
letting something ride (participle present)
let something ride (participle past)
let something ride (past)

(transitive, gambling) To opt to have winnings staked as another wager, typically on the same outcome, rather than paid out.


castle long

castle long (third-person singular simple present castles long, present participle castling long, simple past and past participle castled long)

castles long (present singular third-person)
castling long (participle present)
castled long (participle past)
castled long (past)


castle short

castle short (third-person singular simple present castles short, present participle castling short, simple past and past participle castled short)

castles short (present singular third-person)
castling short (participle present)
castled short (participle past)
castled short (past)


sucker bet

(gambling) A wager having a very poor expected return relative to the odds of winning.


keep the flag flying

keep the flag flying (third-person singular simple present keeps the flag flying, present participle keeping the flag flying, simple past and past participle kept the flag flying)

keeps the flag flying (present singular third-person)
keeping the flag flying (participle present)
kept the flag flying (participle past)
kept the flag flying (past)

In spite of Y's double and in spite of the fact that the spade suit is not of the slightest use to him, as A cannot get any discards on it, A bids two hearts not only to keep the flag flying and prevent Z from going game but with high hopes that Y's double is a bluff.

1911, Advanced Auction Bridge, page 158:

[…] all I know is that to keep the flag flying is an accepted part of bridge, […]

1929, The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, volume 147, page 96:

(bridge) To bid more or less rashly in order to liven up the game.


flag-flying

(bridge) Bidding more or less rashly in order to liven up the game.


wondersave

You can hear Allan McGregor attempt to persuade the referee that he never made a wondersave from Leigh Griffiths' first half effort, and you can also hear him give his defenders an earful.

2021 January 4, Mark McDougall, “Unique Rangers vs Celtic insight given by SPFL highlights package as every word caught on camera”, in Glasgow Live:

(soccer) A first-rate save; an exceptional save


outhalf

DAVID HUMPHREYS, who played very well for Ireland A against Scotland a fortnight ago, gets another chance to impress the national selectors when he plays for Ulster at outhalf against New South Wales at Ravenhill next Tuesday night.

2021 January 5, “Ulster's finest get chance to impress”, in The Irish Times:


Little League home run

en-noun

Little League home run (plural Little League home runs)

From such error-filled plays being common at the actual Little League level but rare in professional-level baseball.

(baseball) A plate appearance where the batter is able to reach home due to major fielding errors, on a scale not usually seen at that level of play.


bite on granite

en-verb

bite on granite (third-person singular simple present bites on granite, present participle biting on granite, simple past bit on granite, past participle bitten on granite)

bites on granite (present singular third-person)
biting on granite (participle present)
bit on granite (past)
bitten on granite (participle past)

Bernhard von Bülow
Franco-Prussian War
Frederick the Great
German Empire
Joseph Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Reichstag
Siegbert Tarrasch

The first usage of this phrase is commonly attributed to Frederick the Great of Prussia as chronicled by Bernhard von Bülow, who was Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 - 1909. Bülow citation of the given phrase was found in a speech to the Reichstag in late 1902 written in response to a public speech by the British Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain (father of WWII Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain) which criticized the German army's conduct during the Franco-Prussian War. Bülow was trying to end the debate on this matter within the Reichstag, so he said of Chamberlain: "Let the man alone, he's biting on granite!" [orig. "Lasst den Mann laufen, er beisst auf Granit!"] meaning that Chamberlain's criticism required no response because it would have no meaningful effect and the matter should be dropped. Regarding the chess-related usage of the phrase, it occurs multiple times in the last book written by Siegbert Tarrasch before his death. Titled The Game of Chess when published in English in 1987, it was first published in German in 1931 as Das Schachspiel.

Chess openings in which one fianchettos one's bishop often result in said bishop biting on granite.

(chess, of a bishop or queen) to face a diagonal occupied by two or more opposing pawns.


International Grandmaster

en-noun

International Grandmaster (plural International Grandmasters)

International Grandmasters (plural)
international grandmaster (alternative)

A book containing portraits of International Grandmasters against whom he has played has been published in Switzerland, entitled Henri Grob the Artist.

1970, The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martin's Press, page 157:

International Grandmaster Bisguier was defending champion. World Junior Champion Lombardy was a strong favorite, and International Grandmaster Reshevsky even stronger.

1973, Frank Brady, Profile of a Prodigy: The Life and Games of Bobby Fischer, Revised edition, David Mckay Company, page 20:

2010, Robert Epstein, Teen 2.0, Linden Publishing (Quill Driver Books), page 180,
For Americans the greatest chess legend of all time was Bobby Fischer, who became the youngest international grandmaster in history in 1958 at age fifteen and who eventually (in 1972) became World Champion in a celebrated bout with the Soviet Union's legendary Boris Spassky.

He earned the title of International Grandmaster in 1957 and appeared on the first USCF rating list (1950) with a rating of 2394.

2016, Alex Dunne, The United States Junior Open Chess Championship, 1946-2016, McFarland & Company, page 13:

(chess) Synonym of Grandmaster; the highest rank of chess player.


play or pay

(gambling, archaic) Either continue with a gambling arrangement or forfeit the money.


RNGesus

/ɑɹ ɛn ˈdʒiːzəs/

With Exotic Quests, there's no need to direct all your prayers to RNGesus in Destiny.

2015, “Get More Excotics”, in Luke Albigés, editor, Play Magazine, number 263, →ISSN, page 88:

On the flip side, in my past life I never managed to come to terms with systems whose copious dice rolls brought out my disfavor in the eyes of RNGesus, but I've since accepted my role when playing such games. I badly wished for another[…]

2021 September 27, Schuld, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World: Volume 1, J-Novel Club, →ISBN:

(gaming, humorous, colloquial) A notional deity who controls RNG (“randomness; chance, luck”) in a video game or tabletop game.


put the pot on

en-verb

put the pot on (third-person singular simple present puts the pot on, present participle putting the pot on, simple past and past participle put the pot on)

puts the pot on (present singular third-person)
putting the pot on (participle present)
put the pot on (participle past)
put the pot on (past)

The Baronet neither owned Artemis nor any other horse, nor did he now bet on horse-races; though he had solaced himself for those acts of self-denial by 'putting the pot on' at cards and all other 'events' concerning which wagers were possible.

(slang, archaic, gambling) To bet an excessive amount of money.


Sixer

(basketball, informal) A player for the 76ers, a team from Philadelphia.


knightmare

16...Nbxd5? The wrong knight captures, which leads to a knightmare for Black.

2020 March 11, Isaak Linder, Vladimir Linder, Mikhail Botvinnik: Sixth World Chess Champion, SCB Distributors, →ISBN, →OCLC:

17...cxd5? 18 ♘b5 is obviously a “knightmare” for Black.

2020 November 17, Thomas Engqvist, 300 Most Important Chess Positions, Batsford, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 138:

(chess, humorous, informal) A figurative nightmare involving a knight, e.g. a crushing knight move or a hopeless situation involving a knight.


two-legged tie

(sports, soccer) A competition between two teams which comprises two matches or “legs”, with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum of the scores of the two legs.


one little duck

From the number two's similar appearance to a duck.


knock at the door

From the nursery rhyme One, Two, Buckle my shoe; Three, Four, Knock at the door.


Tom Mix

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang


Boris's den

An allusion to British prime minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street.


unlucky for some

A reference to 13 being an unlucky number.


never been kissed

After the song Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Kissed


GG no re

(gaming, slang, sometimes offensive) Abbreviation of good game, no rematch used when a multiplayer online game is over and one does not wish to play again; sometimes in contempt


Cedars

(soccer) The Lebanon national football team.


Dépor

From Galician Dépor (short for Deportivo).

(soccer) Deportivo La Coruña, a football club from A Coruña


hope chess

No Hope Chess – do not place a piece on these squares hoping that your opponent will do something dumb.

2010, Joel Johnson, Formation Attacks, →ISBN, page 245:

I have told many a kiddie not to play 'hope chess'. The term, coined by my good friend Hall-of-Fame Grandmaster John Fedorowicz, suggests that you should play moves you will be comfortable with if your opponent makes the best reply.

2018, Joel Benjamin, Better Thinking, Better Chess, →ISBN, page 190:

I've been doing something that Coach Shawn calls “hope chess.” That's when you just play any move and hope it works. Pretty soon I find out that it really doesn't work.

2020, Tanitoluwa Adewumi, My Name Is Tani … and I Believe in Miracles Young Readers Edition, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 95:

It is not too late for the Candidate Master to regroup, but waiting for your opponent to make a blunder is hope chess and usually does not work well.

2020, Alex Dunne, How to Become a Candidate Master: A Practical Guide to Take Your Chess to the Next Level, New In Chess, →ISBN:

(chess) Play that relies on hoping one's opponent blunders or does not find a tactic.


September call-up

en-noun

September call-up (plural September call-ups)

(baseball) A league of players who are traditionally added to MLB rosters late in the season.


parlour LARP

parlour LARP (countable and uncountable, plural parlour LARPs)

parlour LARPs (plural)
parlor LARP (alternative)

(games) A form of LARP which lacks physical combat simulation.


center-back

(soccer) Alternative spelling of centre-back.


Alouette

(Canadian football) A player for Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes.


P2E games

(online gaming) Initialism of play-to-earn.


runscoring

Philippe's innings, which included five fours and one six, moves him to the top of the runscoring charts for this summer's tournament with 261 from seven innings.

2021 January 4, Ed Jackson, “Aussie call-up matter of time for Philippe”, in The West Australian:


second leg

Coordinate term: two-legged tie

(sports, soccer) The second of the two matches or “legs” which are played between two teams in a two-legged tie. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate.


first leg

Coordinate term: two-legged tie

(sports, soccer) The first of the two matches or “legs” which are played between two teams in a two-legged tie. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum of the scores of the two legs.


drop pass

(netball) A high pass for a catcher who will move into free space to receive the ball


trampoline effect

By analogy with a person jumping on a trampoline.

(baseball) The phenomenon by which the baseball "jumps" off the bat at contact.


bet round

en-verb

bet round (third-person singular simple present bets round, present participle betting round, simple past and past participle bet round)

bets round (present singular third-person)
betting round (participle present)
bet round (participle past)
bet round (past)

(gambling) To lay bets of equal value against nearly all the horses in a race, so as to stand no great risk of losing.


supergrandmaster

I'm running two fine victories by Gligoric over two of the better U.S. international masters — Bernard Zuckerman and Norman Weinstein. In both it’s easy to see why a supergrandmaster can beat international masters on most occasions.

1975, The Daily Colonist (1975-05-25), University of Victoria, page 18:

But only, of course, away from the board. There, nothing tells except talent. Chess is, I believe, unique in that it has no element of chance or luck at all; he who plays the better move wins, every time. Incidentally, I say ‘he’, because although there are some formidably powerful women players today, particularly from Georgia, for some inexplicable reason, none has yet established herself among the supergrandmasters.

1988, Bernard Levin, All Things Considered, J. Cape, →ISBN, page 173:

Hungarian supergrandmaster Lajos Portisch once gave a recital of songs on Hungarian radio; and at the Wijk aan Zee 1990 tournament sang Schubert’s ‘Winterreise’, accompanied by IM Bouwmeester.

1993, Mike Fox, Richard James, The Even More Complete Chess Addict, Faber, →ISBN, page 264:

(rare, chiefly chess) A particular grandmaster whose proficiency in chess or in general is notably greater than that of average grandmasters.


corpse run

corpse run (third-person singular simple present corpse runs, present participle corpse running, simple past corpse ran, past participle corpse run)

corpse runs (present singular third-person)
corpse running (participle present)
corpse ran (past)
corpse run (participle past)

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

(online gaming, intransitive) To navigate one's player character back to the site of one's prior death in order to resurrect oneself and reclaim lost items.


corpse run

(online gaming) The act or instance of corpse running.


RRR

en-noun

RRR (countable and uncountable, plural RRRs)

required run rate
required run rate#English

(cricket) Initialism of required run rate.


KID

King's Indian Defence
King's Indian Defence#English

(chess) Initialism of King's Indian Defence.


jump pass

(American football) A pass to a teammate made while jumping


approach-forcing

Coined by Ely Culbertson in the early 1930's to describe the bidding system that he invented.

[…] the approach-forcing system and other less widely known systems offer a helping hand to the beginner […]

1934, Literary Digest, volume 118, number 11, page 38:

My acquaintance with trick values, "approach-forcing," the pitfalls of no-trump, the conventions and the various "systems" has come by word of mouth or by painful experience at the card table.

1937 March, Silas Bent, “Should we abolish bridge? Yessir!”, in The Rotarian, page 10:

(bridge) A bidding system in which the responder does not support a partner's bid suit without 4 card support or 3 cards plus a Queen or higher, never passes an opening 1 bid while holding one and a half honor tricks or more, always responds with an indication of hand strength, and in which a 2 opener or jump bid is considered forcing to game. No Trump is used as a negative response when forced to bid.


place money

(gambling) Money wagered on a horse, etc. to come second or third in a race, rather than winning it.

Not only did I collect on the double; I had the win and the place money as well.

2005, Kenneth Brown, ...and I Survived: A Barnardo Boy's Memoir, page 55:


Wallaroo

(Australia, cricket) Someone who plays for the Australia women's national rugby union team.


Men in Blue

(cricket) The India national cricket team.


Gorkhalis

(cricket) The Nepal national cricket team.


Rhinos

(cricket) The Bangladesh national cricket team.


Chevrons

(cricket) The Zimbabwe national cricket team.


Southern Stars

(cricket) The Australia women's national cricket team.


White Ferns

(cricket) The New Zealand women's national cricket team.


Bengal Tigers

(soccer) The Bangladesh national football team.


Blue Tigers

(soccer) The India national football team.


RMT

RMT (countable and uncountable, plural RMTs)

(online gaming, uncountable) Initialism of real money trading (“the practice of trading in-game goods for real money”).


minor point

minor points (plural)
minor (alternative)

(rugby, historical) A single point awarded for a touch-in-goal and sometimes for touchdowns or dead balls.


clubbie

"When he died, his baseball cap was given to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. He is the only clubbie to be honored with a display there."

1977, Maj. Ed Logan, quotee, Airman, page 38:

(US, baseball, informal) A clubhouse manager.

"[…] But there are some stadiums where the clubhouse guys don't do a very good job, but there are clubbies that do a really outstanding job. […]"

2019 July 10, John Cangelosi, K.P. Wee, John Cangelosi: The Improbable Baseball Journey of the Undersized Kid from Nowhere to World Series Champion, Riverdale Avenue Books LLC, →ISBN:

(US, baseball, informal) A clubhouse attendant.


electric dice

This is a game in which the electric dice are particularly useful to the sharp.

2019, John Nevil Maskelyne, Sharps and Flats:

(gambling, slang) A cheater's dice that contain metal slugs and are influenced by a magnet.