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soccer

 - 3 dictionary results

soc⋅cer

[sok-er]
–noun
a form of football played between two teams of 11 players, in which the ball may be advanced by kicking or by bouncing it off any part of the body but the arms and hands, except in the case of the goalkeepers, who may use their hands to catch, carry, throw, or stop the ball.

Origin:
1890–95; (As)soc(iation football) + -er 7
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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soc·cer   (sŏk'ər)   
n.  A game played on a rectangular field with net goals at either end in which two teams of 11 players each try to drive a ball into the other's goal by kicking, heading, or using any part of the body except the arms and hands. The goalie is the only player who may touch or move the ball with the arms or hands.

[From alteration of assoc., abbreviation of association football.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

soccer 
1889, socca, later socker (1891), soccer (1895), originally university slang, from a shortened form of Assoc., abbreviation of association in Football Association (as opposed to Rugby football); cf. rugger, but they hardly could have taken the first three letters of Assoc.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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