football

Meanings

Noun

• A sport played on foot in which teams attempt to get a ball into a goal or zone defended by the other team.
• Association football: a game in which two teams each contend to get a round ball into the other team's goal primarily by kicking the ball. Known as soccer in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.
• American football: a game played on a field of 100 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide in which two teams of 11 players attempt to get an ovoid ball to the end of each other's territory.
• Canadian football: a game played on a field of 110 yards long and 65 yards wide in which two teams of 12 players attempt to get an ovoid ball to the end of each other's territory.
• Australian rules football.
• Gaelic football: a field game played with similar rules to hurling, but using hands and feet rather than a stick, and a ball, similar to, yet smaller than a soccer ball.
• rugby league.
• rugby union.
• The ball used in any game called "football".
• Practice of these particular games, or techniques used in them.
• An item of discussion, particularly in a back-and-forth manner
• The leather briefcase containing classified nuclear war plans which is always near the US President.

Verb

• To play football.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• American football
• arena football
• association football
• Australian rules football
• Barbarian football
• blow football
• Canadian flag football
• Canadian football
• five-a-side football
• flag football
• Gaelic football
• gridiron football
• political football
• roller football
• rugby football
• table football
• tackle football
• touch football

Origin

• From Middle English footbal, foteball, equivalent to , which may refer to the act of kicking a ball with the feet. The name for the briefcase is a play on “dropkick”, the code name of an early version of the nuclear war plan.{{cite-web
• |title=Military aides still carry the president's nuclear 'football'
• |work=USA Today
• |date=2005-05-05
• |author=Associated Press
• |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-05-nuclear-football_x.htm
• |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226002251/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-05-nuclear-football_x.htm
• |archivedate=2015-02-26