body English
noun Sports.
a twisting of the body by a player as if to help a ball already hit, rolled, or kicked to travel in the desired direction.
QUIZZES
FOR LEXICAL ALIMENTATION, TAKE THIS WORD OF THE DAY QUIZ!
Nourish your vocabulary with a refresher on the words from the week of September 14–20, 2020!
Question 1 of 7
What does “blatherskite” mean?
Origin of body English
First recorded in 1905–10
Words nearby body English
body corporate, body count, body double, body drop, body dysmorphic disorder, body English, body fluid, bodyguard, body horror, body image, body language
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Idioms and Phrases with body English
body English
Movements of the body that express a person's feelings, as in His body English tells us just how tired he is. This expression originated about 1900 in such sports as bowling and ice hockey, where a player tries to influence the path of a ball or puck by moving his body in a particular direction. (It was based on the earlier use of English to mean “spin imparted to a ball.”)
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.