Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
football [foo t-bawl] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for football on Thesaurus.com noun
- a game in which two opposing teams of 11 players each defend goals at opposite ends of a field having goal posts at each end, with points being scored chiefly by carrying the ball across the opponent’s goal line and by place-kicking or drop-kicking the ball over the crossbar between the opponent’s goal posts.Compare conversion(def 13), field goal(def 1), safety(def 6), touchdown.
- the ball used in this game, an inflated oval with a bladder contained in a casing usually made of leather.
- Chiefly British. Rugby(def 3).
- Chiefly British. soccer.
- something sold at a reduced or special price.
- any person or thing treated roughly or tossed about: They’re making a political football of this issue.
- (initial capital letter) U.S. Government Slang. a briefcase containing the codes and options the president would use to launch a nuclear attack, carried by a military aide and kept available to the president at all times.
verb (used with object)
- Informal. to offer for sale at a reduced or special price.
Origin of football First recorded in 1350–1400, football is from the Middle English word fut ball. See foot, ball1 Related Words for football soccer, rugby, peanut, sphere, oval, pigskin, moleskin, porker, watermelon, pineapple Examples from the Web for football Contemporary Examples of football
The quote is apocryphal, but that has not changed its significance for Army football players.
A West Point MVP Who Never Played a Down
Nicolaus Mills
December 13, 2014
A football player killed himself after saying he was ‘all f—– up’ from a head injury.
Will the NCAA Let Ohio State’s Kosta Karageorge Die in Vain?
Robert Silverman
December 1, 2014
Thank you, FCC, for all the football that is broadcast on Thanksgiving Day.
Up to a Point: Thanks to the Biggest Turkey, Uncle Sam
P. J. O’Rourke
November 27, 2014
The truth is, there was football to watch, and 30,000 emails is a heavy lift.
Matt Lewis
November 25, 2014
In the beginning of the film, we see a group of girls, Mariame included, walking home from football practice.
‘Girlhood’: Coming of Age in France’s Projects
Molly Hannon
November 25, 2014
Historical Examples of football
In his youth he had overtaxed his strength on the football field.
Henry Seton Merriman
When I had finished, I was as hot and dirty as if it were half-time at a football match.
J. Stark Munro
Also ’twas Willie who thought of the paper bein’ in the football.
Joseph C. Lincoln
Why, Loosh, I thought you were an invalid; you look like a football player.
Joseph C. Lincoln
I like football immensely and dancing too, but there is something else in life.
Joseph C. Lincoln
British Dictionary definitions for football football noun
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- any of various games played with a round or oval ball and usually based on two teams competing to kick, head, carry, or otherwise propel the ball into each other’s goal, territory, etcSee association football, rugby, Australian Rules, American football, Gaelic football
- (as modifier)a football ground; a football supporter
- the ball used in any of these games or their variants
- a problem, issue, etc, that is continually passed from one group or person to another and treated as a pretext for argument instead of being resolvedhe accused the government of using the strike as a political football
Derived Formsfootballer, noun Word Origin and History for football n.
open-air game, first recorded c.1400; see foot (n.) + ball (n.1). Forbidden in a Scottish statute of 1424. The first reference to the ball itself is late 15c. Figurative sense of “something idly kicked around” is first recorded 1530s. Ball-kicking games date back to the Roman legions, at least, but the sport seems to have risen to a national obsession in England, c.1630. Rules first regularized at Cambridge, 1848; soccer (q.v.) split off in 1863.
The U.S. style (known to some in England as “stop-start rugby with padding”) evolved gradually 19c.; the first true collegiate game is considered to have been played Nov. 6, 1869, between Princeton and Rutgers, at Rutgers, but the rules there were more like soccer. A rematch at Princeton Nov. 13, with the home team’s rules, was true U.S. football. The earliest recorded application of the word football to this is from 1881.