sporting
[spawr-ting, spohr-]
- engaging in, disposed to, or interested in open-air or athletic sports: a rugged, sporting man.
- concerned with or suitable for such sports: sporting equipment.
- sportsmanlike.
- interested in or connected with sports or pursuits involving betting or gambling: the sporting life of Las Vegas.
- involving or inducing the taking of risk, as in a sport.
Origin of sporting
sport
[spawrt, spohrt]
- an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
- a particular form of this, especially in the out of doors.
- sports, (used with a singular verb) such athletic activities collectively: Sports is important in my life.
- diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.
- jest; fun; mirth; pleasantry: What he said in sport was taken seriously.
- mockery; ridicule; derision: They made sport of him.
- an object of derision; laughingstock.
- something treated lightly or tossed about like a plaything.
- something or someone subject to the whims or vicissitudes of fate, circumstances, etc.
- a sportsman.
- Informal. a person who behaves in a sportsmanlike, fair, or admirable manner; an accommodating person: He was a sport and took his defeat well.
- Informal. a person who is interested in sports as an occasion for gambling; gambler.
- Informal. a flashy person; one who wears showy clothes, affects smart manners, pursues pleasurable pastimes, or the like; a bon vivant.
- Biology. an organism or part that shows an unusual or singular deviation from the normal or parent type; mutation.
- Obsolete. amorous dalliance.
- of, relating to, or used in sports or a particular sport:sport fishing.
- suitable for outdoor or informal wear: sport clothes.
- to amuse oneself with some pleasant pastime or recreation.
- to play, frolic, or gambol, as a child or an animal.
- to engage in some open-air or athletic pastime or sport.
- to trifle or treat lightly: to sport with another's emotions.
- to mock, scoff, or tease: to sport at suburban life.
- Botany. to mutate.
- to pass (time) in amusement or sport.
- to spend or squander lightly or recklessly (often followed by away).
- Informal. to wear, display, carry, etc., especially with ostentation; show off: to sport a new mink coat.
- Archaic. to amuse (especially oneself).
- sport one's oak. oak(def 5).
Origin of sport
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sporting
Contemporary Examples
In their midst stands a soldier with the Lebanese armed forces in a red beret, sporting an assault rifle and an unblinking stare.
Just ask Darren Sharper what happens if your sporting career suddenly falters.
Jameis Winston Cleared of Rape Like Every Other College Sports StarRobert Silverman
December 22, 2014
Being dapper is all about attention to detail, like sporting a perfectly tucked handkerchief in your suit pocket.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Don Draper in Your LifeAllison McNearney
November 29, 2014
Brash, crass, and sporting a perpetually raised eyebrow, Ash Williams remains the ultimate postmodern superhero.
Bundy asks Bakari, who is off to his right, sporting all black everything.
Historical Examples
But, then, there are times when the sporting instinct sways all else.
With Trapper Jim in the North WoodsLawrence J. Leslie
We often hear this attributed admiringly to "the sporting instinct."
Albert DurerT. Sturge Moore
If it were made what he called a “sporting proposition” he might consider it.
Louisiana LouWilliam West Winter
There are two breeds of sporting dogs: the Castorian and the fox-like.
The SportsmanXenophon
There is nothing else at the court but dancing and sporting.'
History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vol. II.James Anthony Froude
sporting
- (prenominal) of, relating to, or used or engaged in a sport or sportsseveral sporting interests
- relating or conforming to sportsmanship; fair
- of, relating to, or characterized by an interest in gambling
- willing to take a risk
sport
- an individual or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure, often involving the testing of physical capabilities and taking the form of a competitive game such as football, tennis, etc
- such activities considered collectively
- any particular pastime indulged in for pleasure
- the pleasure derived from a pastime, esp hunting, shooting, or fishingwe had good sport today
- playful or good-humoured jokingto say a thing in sport
- derisive mockery or the object of such mockeryto make sport of someone
- someone or something that is controlled by external influencesthe sport of fate
- informal (sometimes qualified by good, bad, etc) a person who reacts cheerfully in the face of adversity, esp a good loser
- informal a person noted for being scrupulously fair and abiding by the rules of a game
- informal a person who leads a merry existence, esp a gamblerhe's a bit of a sport
- Australian and NZ informal a form of address used esp between males
- biology
- an animal or plant that differs conspicuously in one or more aspects from other organisms of the same species, usually because of a mutation
- an anomalous characteristic of such an organism
- (tr) informal to wear or display in an ostentatious or proud mannershe was sporting a new hat
- (intr) to skip about or frolic happily
- to amuse (oneself), esp in outdoor physical recreation
- (intr often foll by with) to dally or trifle (with)
- (tr often foll by away) rare to squander (time or money)sporting one's life away
- (intr often foll by with) archaic to make fun (of)
- (intr) biology to produce or undergo a mutation
See also sports
Word Origin
C15 sporten, variant of disporten to disport
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for sporting
adj.
"characterized by conduct constant with that of a sportsman," 1799 (e.g. sporting chance, 1897), from present participle of sport (v.).
sport
v.
c.1400, "to take pleasure, to amuse oneself," from Anglo-French disport, Old French desport "pastime, recreation, pleasure," from desporter "to divert, amuse, please, play" (see disport). Sense of "to amuse oneself by active exercise in open air or taking part in some game" is from late 15c. Meaning "to wear" is from 1778. Related: Sported; sporting.
sport
n.
mid-15c., "pleasant pastime," from sport (v.). Meaning "game involving physical exercise" first recorded 1520s. Original sense preserved in phrases such as in sport "in jest" (mid-15c.). Sense of "stylish man" is from 1861, American English, probably because they lived by gambling and betting on races. Meaning "good fellow" is attested from 1881 (e.g. be a sport, 1913). Sport as a familiar form of address to a man is from 1935, Australian English. The sport of kings was originally (1660s) war-making.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper