sport

plural sports

1. countableuncountableAny activity that uses physical exertion or skills competitively under a set of rules that is not based on aesthetics.

   Basketball is her favorite sport, and she also enjoys various other sports as well.

   1 more example

   Sport can be an excellent form of exercise because the competition and sense of achievement can help with both motivation and pleasure.

2. countableA person who exhibits either good or bad sportsmanship.

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

   1 more example

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

3. countableSomebody 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. archaiccountableuncountableSomething fun, pastime; amusement.

   Think it but a minute spent in sport.

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

   2 more examples

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

   The New Arcadia

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

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

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

   Synonyms: amusement, avocation, diversion, divertisement, fancy, hobby, kill-time, pastime

5. archaiccountableuncountableMockery, making fun; derision.

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

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

6. countableA toy; a plaything; an object of mockery.

   flitting leaves, the sport of every wind

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

   1 more example

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

   a. 1676, John Clarke, On Governing the Temper

7. uncountableGaming for money as in racing, hunting, or fishing.
8. countablebiologyA 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.

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

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

   1 more example

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

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

9. countableslangA sportsman; a gambler.

   See my dressed like all the sports/In my blazer and a pair of shorts.

   1937 January 24, “With My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock”performed by George Formby

10. countableslangOne who consorts with disreputable people, including prostitutes.
11. obsoleteuncountableAn amorous dalliance.
12. countableinformalsingularuncountableusuallyA friend or acquaintance (chiefly used when speaking to the friend in question)

    "Say, sport!" he would say briskly.

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

    Synonyms: babber, billy, bredrin, bruv, bud, buddo, buddy, butty

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

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

    1 more example

    Tie me kangaroo down, sport/Tie me kangaroo down/Tie me kangaroo down, sport/Tie me kangaroo down.

    1960 January 1, “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport”performed by Rolf Harris

14. archaiccountableuncountablePlay; 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.

present singular third person sports · participle present sporting · participle past sported · past sported

1. intransitiveTo amuse oneself, to play.

   children sporting on the green

2. intransitiveTo mock or tease, treat lightly, toy with.

   Jen sports with Bill's emotions.

   1 more example

   He sports with his own life.

   1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

3. transitiveTo display; to have as a notable feature.

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

   3 more examples

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

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

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

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

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

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

   Synonyms: rock, wear

4. reflexiveTo divert; to amuse; to make merry.

   Against whom do ye sport yourselves?

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

5. transitiveTo represent by any kind of play.

   Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth.

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

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.

   more than one kind of rose has sported into a moss

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

8. archaictransitiveTo close (a door).

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

   1904, M. R. James, The Mezzotint

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Strategic Partnership On REACH Testing.