English
sport
see also: SPORT
Etymology

From Middle English sporten and sport, spoort, sporte, apheretic shortenings of disporten and disport, disporte.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /spɔːt/
  • (America) IPA: /spɔɹt/
  • (Tasmanian) IPA: /spɔː/
  • (rhotic, non-horse-hoarse) IPA: /spo(ː)ɹt/
  • (non-rhotic, non-horse-hoarse) IPA: /spoət/
Noun

sport

  1. (countable) Any activity that uses physical exertion or skills competitively under a set of rules that is not based on aesthetics.
  2. (countable) A person who exhibits either good or bad sportsmanship.
    Jen may have won, but she was sure a poor sport; she laughed at the loser.
    The loser was a good sport, and congratulated Jen on her performance.
  3. (countable) Somebody who behaves or reacts in an admirably good-natured manner, e.g. to being teased or to losing a game; a good sport.
    You're such a sport! You never get upset when we tease you.
  4. (archaic) That which diverts, and makes mirth; pastime; amusement.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:
      Think it but a minute spent in sport.
    • c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Thirde Booke] Chapter 21”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC ↗, folio 283, recto ↗:
      Her sports were such as carried riches of knowledge upon the stream of delight.
    • a. 1765, year of origin unknown, Hey Diddle Diddle (traditional rhyme)
      The little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon.
    Synonyms: Thesaurus:hobby
  5. (archaic) Mockery, making fun; derision.
    • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene iii], page 58 ↗, column 2:
      Why then make ſport at me, then let me be your ieſt
  6. (countable) A toy; a plaything; an object of mockery.
    • 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
      flitting leaves, the sport of every wind
    • a. 1676, John Clarke, On Governing the Temper:
      Never does man appear to greater disadvantage than when he is the sport of his own ungoverned passions.
  7. (uncountable) Gaming for money as in racing, hunting or fishing.
  8. (biology, botany, zoology, countable) A plant or an animal, or part of a plant or animal, which has some peculiarity not usually seen in the species; an abnormal variety or growth. The term encompasses both mutants and organisms with non-genetic developmental abnormalities such as birth defects.
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:
      We never shot another like it, so I do not know if it was a `sport' or a distinct species.
  9. (slang, countable) A sportsman; a gambler.
  10. (slang, countable) One who consorts with disreputable people, including prostitutes.
  11. (obsolete, uncountable) An amorous dalliance.
  12. (informal, usually singular) A friend or acquaintance (chiefly used when speaking to the friend in question)
    Synonyms: Thesaurus:friend
  13. .
    Hey, sport! You've gotten so big since I saw you last! Give me five.
  14. (archaic) Play; idle jingle.
    • 1725-1726, William Broome, The Odyssey
      An author who should introduce such a sport of words upon our stage […] would meet with small applause.
Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Spanish: espécimen raro
Translations Verb

sport (sports, present participle sporting; simple past and past participle sported)

  1. (intransitive) To amuse oneself, to play.
    children sporting on the green
  2. (intransitive) To mock or tease, treat lightly, toy with.
    Jen sports with Bill's emotions.
    • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious:
      He sports with his own life.
  3. (transitive) To display; to have as a notable feature.
    Jen's sporting a new pair of shoes;  he was sporting a new wound from the combat
  4. (reflexive) To divert; to amuse; to make merry.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Isaiah 57:4 ↗:
      Against whom do ye sport yourselves?
  5. (transitive) To represent by any kind of play.
    • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC ↗:
      Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth.
  6. To practise the diversions of the field or the turf; to be given to betting, as upon races.
  7. To assume suddenly a new and different character from the rest of the plant or from the type of the species; said of a bud, shoot, plant, or animal.
    • 1860, Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication:
      more than one kind of rose has sported into a moss
  8. (transitive, archaic) To close (a door).
    • 1904, M. R. James, The Mezzotint:
      There he locked it up in a drawer, sported the doors of both sets of rooms, and retired to bed.
Translations Translations Translations
SPORT
Proper noun
  1. Acronym of Strategic Partnership On REACH Testing


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