sport
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /spɔːt/
ipa: /spɔɹt/
ipa: /spɔː/
note: rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /spo(ː)ɹt/
note: non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /spoət/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
Forms: form: sports
form: sporting
form: sported
form: sported
Etymology: Aphetic form of disport. From Middle English sporten (“to divert, disport”) (verb) and sport, spoort, sporte (noun), aphetic shortenings of disporten (verb) and disport, disporte (noun), from Old French desporter (“to divert, amuse, please, play; to seek amusement”), etymologically meaning "to carry away (the mind from serious matters)," from des- + porter, from Latin dis- + Latin portāre, ultimately from Latin deportāre, from de- + portāre, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”)). More at disport. Doublet of disport and deport.
Senses: examples: text: children sporting on the green
glosses: To amuse oneself, to play.
examples: text: Jen sports with Bill's emotions.
text: He sports with his own life.
ref: 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious:
glosses: To mock or tease, treat lightly, toy with.
examples: text: Jen's sporting a new pair of shoes; he was sporting a new wound from the combat
text: 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.
ref: 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704:
text: [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, […].
ref: 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
text: 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.
ref: 2023 June 3, Carl Zimmer, “How Did Birds First Take Off?”, in The New York Times:
glosses: To display; to have as a notable feature.
examples: text: Against whom do ye sport yourselves?
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 57:4:
glosses: To divert; to amuse; to make merry.
examples: text: Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth.
ref: 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:
glosses: To represent by any kind of play.
glosses: To practise the diversions of the field or the turf; to be given to betting, as upon races.
examples: text: more than one kind of rose has sported into a moss
ref: 1860, Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: There he locked it up in a drawer, sported the doors of both sets of rooms, and retired to bed.
ref: 1904, M. R. James, The Mezzotint:
glosses: To close (a door).
Derived terms: sport away
sport one's oak
sport the oak