red rover

American  

noun

1. a children's game in which two teams, some distance apart, face each other and take turns designating an opposing player to run toward their line. Any player who fails to break through their clasped hands becomes a member of that team.

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Etymology

Origin of red rover

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

red rover

Red rover, red rover: “Nova” tracks the progress of NASA’s Perseverance Rover in the new episode “Looking for Life on Mars.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2021

Red rover, red rover: “Expedition Mars” recalls the successes of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2016

Johann Sebastian Joust is a folk game like tag or red rover.

From Slate ● Jan. 5, 2015

Still nearer the red rover came, his proud plume fairly quivering with excitement.

From A Tale of the Kloster A Romance of the German Mystics at the Cocalico by Brother Jabez

The red rover of that region will disappear as a combatant in the same way, and before the same weapon, as his brother nomad of Algeria, the earliest victim of the conoidal bullet.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 15, No. 85, January, 1875 by Various