football

noun

a game in which two opposing teams of 11 players each defend goals at opposite ends of a field having goal posts at each end, with points being scored chiefly by carrying the ball across the opponent's goal line and by place-kicking or drop-kicking the ball over the crossbar between the opponent's goal posts. Compare conversion ( def 13 ), field goal ( def 1 ), safety ( def 6 ), touchdown.

the ball used in this game, an inflated oval with a bladder contained in a casing usually made of leather.

Chiefly British, Rugby ( def 3 ).

Chiefly British, soccer.

something sold at a reduced or special price.

any person or thing treated roughly or tossed about: They're making a political football of this issue.

( initial capital letter ) U.S. Government Slang. a briefcase containing the codes and options the president would use to launch a nuclear attack, carried by a military aide and kept available to the president at all times.

Relevant Questions

How Did Football Begin?

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How Did Football Begin?

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verb (used with object)

Informal. to offer for sale at a reduced or special price.

00:10

Football is one of our favorite verbs.

So is subtilize. Does it mean:

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

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Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English fut ball. See foot, ball¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To football

Collins

World English Dictionary

football (ˈfʊtˌbɔːl)

—n
1.	a. association football rugby Australian Rules American football See Gaelic football any of various games played with a round or oval ball and usually based on two teams competing to kick, head, carry, or otherwise propel the ball into each other's goal, territory, etc
	b. (as modifier): a football ground; a football supporter
2.	the ball used in any of these games or their variants
3.	a problem, issue, etc, that is continually passed from one group or person to another and treated as a pretext for argument instead of being resolved: he accused the government of using the strike as a political football

'footballer

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

football

the open-air game, first recorded 1409; forbidden in a Scottish statute of 1424. The first reference to the ball itself is 1486. Figurative sense of "something idly kicked around" is first recorded 1532. Ball-kicking games date back to the Roman legions, at least, but the sport seems to have risen to

a national obsession in England, c.1630. Rules first regularized at Cambridge, 1848; soccer (q.v.) split off in 1863. The U.S. style (known to some in England as "stop-start rugby with padding") evolved gradually 19c.; the first true collegiate game is considered to have been played Nov. 6, 1869, between Princeton and Rutgers, at Rutgers, but the rules there were more like soccer. A rematch at Princeton Nov. 13, with the home team's rules, was true U.S. football. The earliest recorded application of the word football to this is from 1881.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences

Audio recordings of this year's pro football playoff games will be available

for download.

There will also be a discussion of new materials for football helmets.

Unlike the focused heat of a football player, say, hot aggression is impulsive

and reactive.

Old-style college football bore strong resemblances to contemporary lacrosse.