football

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A team ball game in which players try to get a ball into the other team's goal; in most of the world this means soccer.

   We play football in the park every Saturday afternoon.

2. 2
   noun

   The ball used to play this game.

   He kicked the football across the field.

3. 3
   noun

   American football, a game in which two teams of eleven players carry or throw an oval ball toward the end of the field.

   On Sundays the whole family watches American football on TV.

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.

Topics