sport

Less common meanings

4. 4
   nouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

   Used as a friendly, informal form of address, especially to a boy or to a male friend.

   Good to see you, sport. It's been far too long.

   Don't worry about it, sport, we'll sort it out together.

   UsageSaid straight to the person, with no a or the: thanks, sport. From an adult to a boy it sounds fond.

   Similarbuddy, pal, mate, champ

   Note

   A form of address, used to the friend's face rather than about them. Ellis Parker Butler's "Say, sport!" (1924) shows the typical shape: a brisk greeting, not a description.

5. 5
   verbintransitive

   To play or amuse oneself in a lively, lighthearted, carefree way.

   The children sported by the river until sunset.

   Otters sport along the riverbank, sliding down the mud.

   Similarfrolic, play, romp, cavort, gambol

6. 6
   toy withverbintransitive

   To mock or tease someone, treating them lightly or toying with their feelings.

   The cat seemed to sport with the mouse, letting it go and catching it again.

   It's cruel to sport with someone's hopes like that.

   UsageFollowed by with: sport with someone's hopes or feelings.

   Similartoy, trifle, play

   Note

   One sports with feelings, with hopes, or with a life, as in John Tillotson's sermon line "He sports with his own life" from the 1660s. The object is usually something that ought to be taken seriously, and that gives the phrase its reproach.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Amusement or playfulness; something done for pleasure or in jest rather than seriously.

   They hunted not from need but for sport, returning empty-handed and content.

   Think it but a minute spent in sport.

   1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt,”

   UsageMost often in for sport, meaning for fun and not from need: hunting for sport.

   Similarfun, amusement, pleasure, recreation, diversion

   Note

   The oldest playful meaning, and the clearest trace of where the word came from. It is disport with its first syllable worn away, from Old French desporter, "to divert, amuse, play." Shakespeare's "a minute spent in sport" shows the phrase in sport, meaning something done playfully rather than in earnest. The nursery rhyme's little dog that laughed "to see such sport" keeps this plain old sense of fun familiar. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Amusement is the word's oldest English meaning. en.wikipedia.org
   • Sport is a shortened form of disport, with the initial syllable removed. en.wiktionary.org
   • The word ultimately derives from Old French desporter, meaning to divert, amuse oneself or play. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quoted wording occurs in Shakespeare; Suffolk speaks it in Henry VI, Part 2, Act 3, Scene 2. shakespeare.mit.edu
   • The nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle describes a little dog laughing to see such sport. en.wikipedia.org
8. 8
   mutantnouncountable

   A plant or animal (or part of one) that shows a peculiarity not usually seen in its species; an abnormal variety or growth arising from either mutation or a developmental defect.

   The orchard's prize apple began as a single sport on an ordinary tree.

   Breeders noticed a sport among the seedlings and propagated it carefully.

   Similarmutation, mutant, variant

   Note

   A gardener's and naturalist's term for the odd one out: a branch, plant or animal that departs from its kind. H. Rider Haggard's She (1886) still sets the word in inverted commas, unsure whether a creature was a freak or a new species. Charles Quest-Ritson writes freely in 2014 of the old tulip 'Duc van Tol' and its sports. A sport is often propagated to fix its novelty, and the verb names the moment it appears.

9. 9
   change (plant)verbintransitive

   Of a bud, shoot, plant, or animal, to suddenly take on a new character different from the rest of the organism or its species.

   A camellia may sport, throwing out a single branch whose blossoms differ entirely from the rest.

   One shoot sported, bearing variegated foliage that the gardener later propagated.

   Similarmutate

   Note

   The verb behind the gardener's odd one out: when a bud or plant breaks from its type, it sports. Darwin wrote in 1868 that "more than one kind of rose has sported into a moss-rose." The construction sport into names what the plant has become. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • A bud or plant that suddenly departs from its type can be said to sport. en.wiktionary.org
   • Darwin published the passage in 1868. darwin-online.org.uk
   • In the construction sport into, the complement identifies the resulting plant form. darwin-online.org.uk
10. 10
    nounslangcountable

    A person, usually a man, devoted to pleasure, especially gambling and betting, and often keeping disreputable company.

    Note

    Slang for a man of the betting world, where following the field and laying money on it were one pursuit. He is the person behind gaming for money, and his verb is betting on races. In modern prose the word reads as period slang. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Sport has a slang sense denoting a gambler. en.wiktionary.org
    • The corresponding noun sense includes gaming for money. en.wiktionary.org
    • The corresponding verb sense includes betting on races. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    mockerynounarchaiccountable or uncountable

    Mockery or derision; the act of making fun of a person.

    The courtiers made sport of the foolish ambassador behind his back.

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

    c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”

    UsageUsually in make sport of someone. Today make fun of is the everyday phrase.

    Note

    Here the fun has a victim. Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor has "make sport at me, then let me be your jest," and the pairing with jest shows how close mockery sat to play. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • William Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor, which contains the quoted words, spoken by Ford. scholarsbank.uoregon.edu
12. 12
    playthingnouncountable

    A toy or plaything; a person or thing treated as an object of mockery.

    To the cruel courtiers he was nothing but a sport, mocked at every turn.

    After losing his job and his home in one week, he felt like the sport of fate.

    UsageMost often the sport of a force: the sport of fate, the sport of the waves.

    Similarplaything, toy, laughingstock, butt

    Note

    In Dryden's Virgil of 1697, leaves are "the sport of every wind." John Clarke's man is "the sport of his own ungoverned passions." In this shape the word means something pushed about by a force it cannot resist. It is closer to plaything than to toy, and often carries a pitying or moral edge. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Dryden's English translation of Virgil was first published in 1697. openbook.lib.utah.edu
    • Dryden's translation describes leaves as the sport of every wind; the quotation expands the poetic spelling ev'ry. en.wikisource.org
    • The quotation about a man being the sport of his own ungoverned passions is attributed to John Clarke. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    nounobsoleteuncountable

    Playful amorous activity; flirtation or a love affair pursued for pleasure.

    Note

    An obsolete meaning that can catch out a reader of older texts. Where a modern eye sees games or fun, the writer may mean an amorous dalliance.

14. 14
    verbarchaictransitive

    To close or shut a door, especially to signal that one wishes to be left alone.

    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

    Note

    Old university slang, and the origin of the phrase sport one's oak: to shut the heavy outer door of college rooms as a sign not to be disturbed. M. R. James keeps it alive in The Mezzotint (1904), where a character "sported the doors of both sets of rooms" before bed. The usage is archaic now. Met in older fiction, it means the door was shut, not decorated. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Sport one's oak is old university slang for shutting one's outer door to discourage visitors. gutenberg.org
    • The phrase derives from sport meaning to shut and oak meaning the outer door of college rooms. en.wiktionary.org
    • The oak was a substantial outer door, closed when the occupant wanted quiet. gutenberg.org
    • M. R. James wrote The Mezzotint, first published in 1904. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quotation is exact: the narrator describes Mr Williams shutting both sets of doors before retiring to bed. gutenberg.org
15. 15
    nounobsolete

    Gambling for money through pursuits such as racing, hunting, or fishing.
16. 16
    verbarchaic

    To portray or represent something by means of play or dramatic action.

    Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth.

    1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden
17. 17
    verbarchaic

    To pursue field sports such as hunting and fishing or horse racing, and to be given to betting on races.