Originally posted by STER0S
is foosball a sport
Maybe this will clear things up for you.
2.
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a. An activity providing diversion, entertainment, or fun; a pastime.
▸ c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 242 (MED) If a man wone him silf bi summe þouȝtis or spechis..forto gendre into him desijr to heuenly placis, myrþis, sportis, dignitees and officis to be had in heuene, [etc.].
c1475 tr. Secreta Secret. (Tripolitanus abbrev.) (1977) 362 (MED) Theise thinges folowinge ben counfortable to nature..good spoortes, to see richesse, to haue grete reuerence, [etc.].
1511 H. Watson tr. St. Bernardino Chirche of Euyll Men & Women sig. Bvv Some cursed blynde folkes say that it is none yll for to playe, & that it is but a sporte.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. EEiii Myrthe and sportes maketh the soule remyse, slacke, and neglygent.
1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles xxii. 63 Your present kindenes makes my past miseries sports .
1678 Young Man's Calling 71 They are too commonly seeming sports, real vexations.
1780 S. Johnson Let. 10 June (1992) III. 271 The high sport was to burn the Jayls. This was a good rabble trick.
1790 W. Cowper Let. 2 May (1982) III. 374 I am still at the old sport; Homer all the morning and Homer all the Evening.
1831 W. Scott Count Robert ii, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. I. 66 But I will settle this sport presently.
1899 Q. Rev. Apr. 456 The crowd..cheerfully joined the sport of priest-baiting.
1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings Proem 7 It shall be a duty and a pleasing sport to wander with Momus beneath the tropic stars.
1998 Time 2 Mar. 68/3 Not even a rich child-queen can reign safely in this sport of revolving crowns.
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a. A matter or incident providing entertainment, diversion, or amusement; a joke, a jest. Now archaic and rare.
?1449 M. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 235 If þer myt ben purveyd any mene þat it myt ben dasched..it were a good sport, for þan he wold ben wode.
c1453 (▸c1437) Brut (Harl. 53) 574 Sir Iohn Radclif did it for a sport, because it was Saint George day.
c1530 A. Barclay Egloges i. sig. Fiij v Lo here is a sport, our bottell is contrary To a Cowes vtter [etc.].
1548 T. Cranmer Catechismus sig. Di The name of God is taken in vayne, when..men make a trifle or a lawghynge sporte of the wordes of holy scripture.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cxixv It is a sporte and a pleasaunt syght to see, howe the Rauens wyll stryue amonges them selues for the carion.
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. iii. 144 In a merrie sport..let the forfaite be nominated for an equall pound of your faire flesh.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 64 Especially, it is a Sport to see, when a Bold Fellow is out of Countenance.
1671 A. Marvell Let. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 323 On this they voted it a Libel, and to be burned by the Hangman. Which was done; but the Sport was, the Hangman burned the Lords, Order with it.
1701 M. Pix Czar of Muscovy ii. 21 Murders and Rapes are but a Sport to thee.
1792 T. Holcroft Anna St. Ives VI. cxv. 225 To deceive in countries where deception is a pastime, authorised, practised, and applauded, is I find something very opposite to what would seem the same thing, in this gloomy land of apathy and phlegm. There it is a sport and a pleasure.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. IV. 40 I was the same David Deans of whom there was a sport at the Revolution.
1993 P. Sangar Growth Eng. Trade under Mughals ix. 229 It was a sport to the travellers to see these ladies to fall out among themselves about ‘a chipp or a piece of pott’, scolding or railing for 5 or 6 hours at a stretch.
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a. An activity involving physical exertion and skill, esp. (particularly in modern use) one regulated by set rules or customs in which an individual or team competes against another or others. Frequently in plural.
In early use the sense of ‘sport’ as a diversion or amusement is paramount; by the 18th and 19th centuries the term was often used with reference to hunting, shooting, and fishing (see blood, field sports at the first element). The consolidation of organized sport (particularly football, rugby, cricket, and athletics) in the 19th cent. reinforced the notion of sport as physical competition (for contact, motor-, racket, spectator, team, water sport, etc., see the first element).
1491 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 226/2 In na place of the realme be vsit fut bawis gouff or vthir sic vnproffitable sportis.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. liiii But and thei played small game..than might it be called a good game, a good play, a good sporte, and a good pastyme.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xii. sig. L8 The fry of children yong Their wanton sportes and childish mirth did play.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies vi. xxviii. 492 The Prelates have laboured to take from them these dances;..but yet they suffer them, for that part of them are but sportes of recreation.
1660 S. Pepys Diary 19 Sept. (1970) I. 248 Some of us fell to Handycapp, a sport that I never knew before.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Pastorals x, in tr. Virgil Wks. 47 I..bend the Parthian Bow: As if with Sports my Sufferings I could ease.
1746 P. Francis tr. Horace Art of Poetry 546 Monarchs were courted in Pierian Strain, And comic Sports reliev'd the wearied Swain.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 9 The sports of children satisfy the child.
1800 W. Windham Speeches Parl. (1812) I. 338 If we, who have every source of amusement open to us, and yet follow these cruel sports, become rigid censors of the sports of the poor.
1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) vii. 66 I..am delighted to view any sports which may be safely indulged in.
1873 Harper's Mag. Apr. 664/1 In Belgium, indeed, pigeon-racing is a national sport, like horse-racing in England.
1904 St. Nicholas May 667/1 The sports are mostly skating, and skeeing, which is very amusing.
1935 Amer. Girl July 36/3 M. Ducros makes us feel that waterskiing may have airy charms that the older sport, aquaplaning, lacks.
1961 Radio Times 14 Sept. 30/4 Behind the scenes at an international motor race to hear more about this exciting sport from top racing drivers.
1972 Daily Tel. 13 Oct. (Colour Suppl.) 10/3 In America the sport of ‘hang gliding’..is becoming extremely popular.
2007 Ultra Fit 17 v. 105 Modern Pentathlon is one of the world's most demanding sports.
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b. In plural. An occasion on which people compete in various athletic or other sporting activities. Cf. game n. 9b.
In early use frequently referring to the ancient Olympic Games.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Macc. iv. 4 What tyme as the Olympiades sportes were played at Tyrus (the kynge him selfe beinge presente).
1594 T. Kyd tr. R. Garnier Cornelia iv. i. 134 Like them that (stryuing at th' Olympian sports To grace themselues with honor of the game) Annoynt theyr sinewes fit for wrestling.
1655 Duchess of Newcastle Worlds Olio iii. iii. 207 Their Sports like the old Olympick Games.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis v, in tr. Virgil Wks. 330 That Day with solemn Sports I mean to grace.
1723 R. Blackmore Alfred iv. 120 None made more bold Efforts To gain the Prize at old Olympick Sports.
1736 T. Gray Let. 8 May in Corr. T. Gray & W. Mason (1853) 3 Oft in Pisa's sports, his native land Admired that arm.
1860 Chambers's Encycl. I. 519 Athletic sports were first witnessed at Rome 186 b.c.
1892 Isis 27 Apr. 3/1 The Oxford and Cambridge Sports, which were kept at Kensington.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 5 May 12/4 The green committee did not consider that golf was a game likely to be benefited by inclusion in any programme of the Olympic Sports.
1929 Times 4 Feb. 10/2 The crowd..pours into the dale in August to see the fell runners and wrestlers at the Grasmere sports.
1968 G. M. Williams From Scenes like These iii. 54 The first time he'd really noticed her was at the school sports.
1997 A. Smith Like (2001) 183 The field where the shows came in June and where they held the inter-school sports.
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c. Participation in activities involving physical exertion and skill, (now) esp. competitive activities regulated by set rules or customs; such activities collectively.
1793 C. Smith Old Manor House I. ii. 48 Her room was in a turret over a sort of lumber-room, where the game-keeper kept his nets and his rods, and where Orlando used to deposit his bow, his cricket-bats, and other instruments of sport.
1863 Meliora Oct. 195 If recreation is found, or pastime is sought in activity or change,..it is called diversion; and if we set ourselves to take part in the amusement,..it constitutes sport.
1884 Longman's Mag. Mar. 492 All other branches of athletic sport..have their ruling bodies, and so has cycling.
1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay iii. 46 I..found he was well up in sporting, or rather turf, matters. There is very little sport in them.
1913 Sat. Evening Post 16 Sept. 16/1 Another indication of the Internationalization of sport may be read in the track games held for Chinese undergraduates of American schools and universities.
1941 Faugh-a-Ballagh 34 84/1 The Company still lives up to its laurels, and in sport is still outstanding. Its cross-country team has won nearly every Inter-Company event, while the soccer team is undefeated.
1989 M. Coren Gilbert iii. 43 Gilbert attempted the game of golf, and was confirmed in his view that sport was not his particular vocation.
2000 Big Issue 20 Mar. 40/2 (advt.) Down-to-earth SBF..slim and attractive, enjoys sport, interior design, reading, music and adventure.
