hockey
Americannoun
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Also called (esp US and Canadian): field hockey.
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a game played on a field by two opposing teams of 11 players each, who try to hit a ball into their opponents' goal using long sticks curved at the end
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( as modifier )
hockey stick
hockey ball
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See ice hockey
noun
Etymology
Origin of hockey
1520–30; earlier hockie, perhaps equivalent to hock- hook 1 + -ie -ie
Explanation
Hockey is short for ice hockey or field hockey, but it usually refers to ice hockey, the sport where people skate on ice and use big hockey sticks to whack a puck into a goal. For ice hockey, players wear protective gear and helmets. A flat puck is knocked across the ice with long, paddle-shaped sticks. Field hockey is similar, though there is less contact between players, and a ball, instead of a puck, is smacked with sticks. The origin of hockey is slightly unclear, although it may stem from the Middle French hoquet, "shepherd's staff," which resembles a hockey stick.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He began as a hockey dad overseeing his three sons in Connecticut’s Mid-Fairfield Youth Hockey Association.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
LA Kings Hockey Game – I somehow end up in LA often, usually for work, and this trip was no different.
From Salon • Mar. 31, 2026
The MLB is only the latest sports league to partner with a prediction market, following the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and Ultimate Fighting Championship.
From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026
That would be the International Ice Hockey Federation, the governing body of the Olympics hockey tournament.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
I wanted a go on Air Hockey, where a plastic disk floats on a cushion of air.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
