Old sport

Дата публикации: Jan 30, 2016 3:59:13 PM

sport noun BrE /spɔːt/ ; NAmE /spɔːrt/

1. [uncountable] (British English) (North American English sports [plural]) activity that you do for pleasure and that needs physical effort or skill, usually done in a special area and according to fixed rules

There are excellent facilities for sport and recreation.

I'm not interested in sport.

the use of drugs in sport

2. [countable] a particular form of sport

What's your favourite sport?

team/water sports

a sports club

3. [countable] (Australian English, New Zealand English, informal) used as a friendly way of addressing somebody, especially a man

How are you doing, sport?

Good on you, sport!

4. [uncountable] (formal) enjoyment or fun

The comments were only made in sport.

to make sport of (= to joke about) somebody/something

5. [countable] (biology) a plant or an animal that is different in a noticeable way from its usual type

sport verb BrE /spɔːt/ ; NAmE /spɔːrt/

1. [transitive] sport something to have or wear something in a proud way

synonym wear

to sport a beard

She was sporting a T-shirt with the company's logo on it.

2. [intransitive] + adv./prep. (literary) to play in a happy and lively way

Word Origin late Middle English (in the sense ‘pastime, entertainment’): shortening of disport.

sport (n.)

early 15c., "pleasant pastime," shortening of disport "activity that offers amusement or relaxation; entertainment, fun" (c. 1300), also "a pastime or game; flirtation; pleasure taken in such activity" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French disport, Old French desport, deport "pleasure, enjoyment, delight; solace, consolation; favor, privilege," related to desporter, deporter "to divert, amuse, please, play" (see sport (v.)).

Original sense preserved in phrases such as in sport "in jest" (mid-15c.). Meaning "game involving physical exercise" first recorded 1520s. 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 (as in 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. Other, lost senses of Middle English disport were "consolation, solace; a source of comfort."

sport (v.)

c. 1400, "to take pleasure, to amuse oneself," from Old French desporter, deporter "to divert, amuse, please, play" (see disport). Restricted sense of "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.

Idioms

be a (good) sport - (informal) to be generous, cheerful and pleasant, especially in a difficult situation

She's a good sport.

Go on, be a sport (= used when asking somebody to help you).

At age 16, Williams (Tennesi) won third prize (five dollars) for an essay published in Smart Set entitled, "Can a Good Wife Be a Good Sport?"

"Old sport" is just a friendly term of endearment used between equals, like buddy or the decidedly more modern dude. Using it today would likely be considered amusingly stuffy or upper-crust. "Old sport" is structurally like "old friend", in that "old" refers not literally to your friend's age, but rather to the length or strength of friendship. "Sport" with this affectionate meaning is at the very least contemporary to Fitzgerald, and possibly much older, but it doesn't seem dated/worn out.

And in fact, that "amusingly stuffy and upper-crust" was just what F. Scott Fitzgerald was going for — Gatsby is so eager to sound rich and sophisticated that it comes out as being ridiculously formal and stilted.

bad sport - a non agreeable Person, a bad one, no one you want to be with

He's such a bad sport, I tell ya!

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