football

Definition

A sport played on foot in which teams attempt to get a ball into a goal or zone defended by the other team.

Etymology

From Middle English fotbal, footbal, equivalent to foot + ball, because the ball was primarily manipulated with the feet in early versions of the game (though some modern varieties involve more handling than kicking). The name for the briefcase is a play on “dropkick”, the code name of an early version of the nuclear war plan.

Example Sentences

• "Roman and medieval football matches were more violent than any modern type of football."
• "The player kicked the football."
• "The league said the Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots used footballs that didn’t meet league specifications in the first half of the AFC championship game last Sunday."