bobsled
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
Usage
What is bobsled? Bobsled is a sport in which racers ride a sled known as a bobsled (or bobsleigh) down an ice-covered chute with the goal of reaching the finish line as quickly as possible. The term bobsled is more commonly used (for both the event and the sled) in the U. S. and Canada, but bobsleigh is the official name of the event in the Winter Olympics. The sport is sometimes casually referred to as bobsledding. Bobsled competitions often involve teams of two or four, but there are also individual events. The one-person bobsled event is called monobob. (A women’s monobob event was added to the Winter Olympics in 2022.)Bobsleds consist of a tubelike structure on runners with a steering mechanism and brakes. At the start of each heat, the racer or racers push the bobsleigh to gain speed before jumping inside, with the rider at the front handling steering. Bobsled is known as one of the sliding sports, along with luge and skeleton. Those take place on a similar course, but racers in those events ride on top of their sled (feetfirst in luge, headfirst in skeleton), rather than inside of it like in bobsled. Bobsled is known for its high speeds, often nearing 100 mph (161 km/h). Example: I think bobsled is thrilling—and the start might be the most exciting part!
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bobsledsimple
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bobsledssimple
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have bobsleddedperfect
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has bobsleddedperfect
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am bobsleddingprogressive
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are bobsleddingprogressive
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is bobsleddingprogressive
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have been bobsleddingperfect progressive
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has been bobsleddingperfect progressive
Past
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bobsleddedsimple
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had bobsleddedperfect
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was bobsleddingprogressive
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were bobsleddingprogressive
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had been bobsleddingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bobsled
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.
See Examples For:
Flav was an official sponsor of the U.S. bobsled and skeleton teams at the Milan-Cortina Games.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
Track athletes like Hill, 27, and O’Brien, 23, have a long history of success in bobsled, where speed and power at the start are important.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
"I am aware of the diatribe the commentator directed towards the Israeli bobsled team on the Swiss Olympic broadcast today," he wrote.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
Meyers Taylor’s earliest Olympic ambitions didn’t involve bobsled, ice, or even the winter Games.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026
Laura and Mary heard the gay ringing of sleigh bells, growing louder every moment, and then the big bobsled came out of the woods and drove up to the gate.
From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
After the Dutch team’s out-of-nowhere success in Vancouver, other countries began calling Eurotech about making their bobsleds, and by the 2014 Sochi Games, the company was working with both the Netherlands and Canada.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 19, 2022
The bobsleds entered the assembly line for their final ride of the day like planes readying to taxi.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2022
Cold-weather sports require gloves and goggles and helmets, duffel bags bulging with hockey sticks, rifles for biathletes and four-man bobsleds the size of grand pianos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2022
Bodine helped create the “Bo-Dyn” project, one where the same principles that went into auto racing were turned into ways to build faster bobsleds.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2020
Then the lads turned to their bobsleds, the Rovers getting out one they had used the season before.
From The Rover Boys on a Hunt or The Mysterious House in the Woods by Stratemeyer, Edward
While all share the commonality of being unconventional competitors in a space where they’re considered to be a rarity, bobsledding and ski jumping originated as European sports.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2024
Indeed, Herschel Walker’s athletic record made him a state icon—he’s not only a former college football and NFL star, but he once also competed on the Olympic bobsledding team.
From Slate ● Oct. 12, 2022
There was yet another battle — this one within the sport of bobsledding — that she and Meyers Taylor waged together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2022
When she left softball, she joined the world of bobsledding, where she had some breathtaking victories and met her husband, fellow bobsledder Nic Taylor.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 14, 2022
Skating, bobsledding, skiing, and even walking, was taboo for a while, for there was more mud in sight than snow.
From Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch by Carr, Annie Roe
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.
