Sport v.

Also 5–6 sporte. [Aphetic form of DISPORT v., or f. SPORT sb.¹]

  I.  † 1. refl. To amuse, divert, recreate (oneself); to take one’s pleasure. Obs.

  Fairly common down to the end of the 17th c.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 7909. Ector … went Fro the burghe to þe batells of þe bold grekes, For to sport hym a space.

1483.  Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1903), p. xlvi. Rydyng a hontyng, hym silff to sporte & playe.

1530.  Palsgr., 729. I wyll go sporte me in this gardayne for an houre or twayne.

1579.  Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 58. Many of you whiche were wont to sporte your selues at Theaters.

1638.  Junius, Paint. Ancients, 144. Bupalus and Anthermus, to sport themselves,… made the statue of Hipponactes the Poet, who was halfe a Dwarfe.

1653.  Walton, Angler, iv. 63. Some [lambs] leaping securely in the cool shade, whilst others sported themselves in the cheerful sun.

1712.  Pope, Ep. to Miss Blount, 14. Cheerful he play’d the trifle, Life, away; Till fate scarce felt his gentle breath supprest, As smiling Infants sport themselves to rest.

1779.  Mirror, No. 64. The gay, whose minds, unbent from serious and important occupations, had leisure to sport themselves in the regions of wit and humour.

  † b.  Const. with (= in the company of) some person, by, in, or with some action, proceeding, or thing. Obs.

  (a)  c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 9103. The grekes agayne [might] go to the toune, To sporte hom with speciall, & a space lenge.

1478.  Paston Lett., III. 237. If it lyke yow that I may come … and sporte me with yow at London a day or ij.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, liii. 160. Let youre doughter go in to her chambre & sporte her with her damselles.

1586.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 490. Whereas he in the meane while skorned hir, sporting himselfe with Cleopatra in the sight and knowledge of all men.

  (b)  1477.  Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 69. Whan ye shal be wery of studyng, sporte you in redyng goode stories.

1547.  Baldwin, Mor. Philos., 92. When thou art weary of study, sport thy selfe with reading of good stories.

c. 1590.  Greene, Fr. Bacon, vii. Seeing I have sported me with laughing at these mad and merry wags.

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., II. i. 60. Let her sport her selfe With that shee’s big with.

1624.  Capt. Smith, Virginia, III. v. 59. Our Captaine sporting himselfe by nayling them [fish] to the grownd with his sword.

1670.  Covel, in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.), 134. After we had sported our selves a while with shooting in these thickets and Plashes.

1733.  Neal, Hist. Purit., II. 200. The ministers of state sported themselves in the most wanton acts of arbitrary power.

1756.  W. Law, Coll. Lett., xi. (1760), 161. Pleasing himself with supposed deep Enquiries after strict Truth, whilst he is only sporting himself with lively, wandering Images of This and That.

1781.  Cowper, Conversat., 18. So language … Too often proves … A toy to sport with and pass time away.

  c.  transf. Of things.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., 203. Ex growing bigger, and sporting himselfe, as it were, with spreading into many streames.

1668.  Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., III. ix. 149. Nature variously sporting her self in the Muscles of the Ear.

1720.  Lett. Lond. Jrnl. (1721), 50. Imagination,… roaming casually from Object to Object, and sporting it self with Phantoms and Non-entities.

1723.  P. Blair, Pharmaco-Bot., I. 16. These [varieties] may justly be called sporters…, so many Lusus Naturæ sporting themselves from more simple colours.

1746.  Hervey, Medit. (1818), 127. Here, she [i.e., beauty] indulges a thousand freaks, and sports herself in the most charming diversity of colours.

  2.  intr. To amuse, entertain or recreate oneself, esp. by active exercise in the open air; to take part in some game or play; to frolic or gambol.

c. 1483.  Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1903), 290. When I wolde sporte with company also, I dare not out I am so sore agast.

1526.  Skelton, Magnyf., 80. [If] you haue not your owne fre lyberte To sporte at your pleasure, to ryn and to ryde.

c. 1590.  Marlowe, Faustus, 3. Not marching now in fields of Thracimene,… Nor sporting in the dalliance of loue.

1645.  Harwood, Loyal Subj. Retiring-room, 29. Doe you not see the Keeper sport with his Lion, when the Spectatour will scarce trust his chaine?

1662.  J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 54. Having sported two or three Hours, we were treated with a Collation.

1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., II. i. 200. As the Year brought back the Jovial Day, Freely they sported, innocently gay.

1803–6.  Wordsw., Intimat. Immortality, ix. See the Children sport upon the shore.

1856.  N. Brit. Rev., XXVI. 133. The Iobajjy … dance and sing and sport whenever they have a moment’s leisure.

1882.  ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 147. Cupa and Horta sported amidst the flowers.

  b.  Of animals, insects, etc.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 343. Sporting the Lion rampd, and in his paw Dandl’d the Kid. Ibid., VII. 405. Of Fish that … sporting with quick glance Show to the Sun thir wav’d coats dropt with Gold.

1735.  Somerville, Chase, IV. 115. Alone to range the Woods, or haunt the Brakes where dodging Conies sport.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), II. 20. These little animals, which thus appear swimming, and sporting, in almost every fluid we examine.

1826.  Samouelle, Direct. Collect. Insects & Crust., 27. Numbers [of these insects] will be seen sporting in the noontide sun.

1889.  Science-Gossip, XXV. 197. The winged atoms sporting in the golden beams.

  c.  transf. and fig. Of things.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 907. Advice is sporting while infection breeds.

1641.  Suckling, Poems (1709), 24. Her Beams … Part with her Cheek, part with her Lips did sport.

1732.  Pope, Ep. Cobham, 46. When Sense subsides, and Fancy sports in sleep.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., I. 105. For human weal, heav’n … Dull sleep instructs, nor sport vain dreams in vain.

1818.  La Belle Assemblée, XVII. 40/6. A few ringlets that are made to sport round the face.

a. 1864.  Hawthorne, Amer. Note-bks. (1879), II. 101. The wind sported with her gown.

1878.  Browning, La Saisiaz, 39. Knowledge stands on my experience: all outside its narrow hem, Free surmise may sport and welcome!

  d.  With it.

1793.  W. Roberts, Looker-on, No. 57 (1794), II. 355. I … shall … study to surprise her in those moments when she is sporting it with Zephyr and Flora.

1837.  Tait’s Mag., IV. 492. I’ll foot it and sport it by fountain and rill.

  e.  To engage in, follow or practise sport, esp. field-sport; to hunt or shoot for sport or amusement.

1812.  in Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), I. 42. Any fellow who has sported on the estate at Bradford Wood.

1850.  Bigsby, Shoe & Canoe, II. 130. In summer my friends performed the functions of country gentlemen. They farmed, fished, and sported.

1860[?].  Darwin, More Lett. (1903), I. 143. I should think no one beside yourself has ever sported in Spitzbergen and Southern Africa.

1890.  Spectator, 13 Dec. The ‘sporting’ section of society was anxious to be sure whether it could ‘sport’ in buildings of its own without interference from the police.

  3.  To indulge in sport, fun, or ridicule, at, over, or upon a person or thing. Also with it.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), N iiij b. I find there simple folke, at whom I maie sport.

1623.  Bingham, Xenophon, Lipsius’ Compar. Wars, 4. I come to Darts, which they likewise sport at.

1684.  Wood, Life, 6 Aug. Dr. George Reynell … thrust in among them, upon whome some of the company sported.

1850.  Blackie, Æschylus, II. 135. A barbarian truly Art thou, if o’er the Greek to sport it thus The fancy tempts thee.

  b.  To deal with in a light or trifling way; to trifle, dally or play with something.

1630.  Pagitt, Christianogr., I. iii. (1636), 137. They sport after the same manner, with by-past offenses, forgiving the sinnes of dayes, monthes, or yeeres.

1663.  S. Patrick, Parab. Pilgrim, xxix. (1687), 349. You could not have well gratified me more than you do, in sporting with that which others more morose would have taken for a reproach.

1769.  Junius Lett., xxix. (1788), 152. To sport with the reputation … of another, is something worse than weakness.

1796.  H. Hunter, trans. St. Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), III. 678. The opinions of the People should not be sported with.

1831.  Scott, Cast. Dang., xiii. In irritating a madman you do but sport with your own life.

1850.  Merivale, Rom. Emp., xxxvii. (1865), IV. 267. Though he had sported with her feelings for the furtherance of his settled policy.

1861.  Reade, Cloister & H., lxxx. My misery is too great to be sported with.

  4.  † a. Of Nature: To produce or develop abnormal or irregular forms or growths as if in sport.

1760.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, IV. (1903), 234. Nature, though she sported.—she sported within a certain circle.

1769.  E. Bancroft, Guiana, 23. The surrounding forests, where Nature sports in primaeval rudeness. Ibid., 227. It seems as if Nature sported in variety.

  b.  Of plants, animals, etc.: To deviate or vary abnormally from the parent stock or specific type; to exhibit or undergo spontaneous mutation.

  Cf. the early reflexive use in 1 c, quot. 1723.

1768.  R. Dossie, Mem. Agric., I. 444. Seminal varieties [of cabbage] sport, to use the gardener’s phrase.

1840.  Penny Cycl., XVIII. 164/2. In the Malay Archipelago it acquires an enormous size, and sports into a variety called the double pine-apple.

1854.  Poultry Chron., II. 23. The silver spangles ‘sport’ less frequently than any variety I have met with.

1882.  Grant Allen, in Nature, 27 July, 302. All flowers, as we know, easily sport a little in colour.

  c.  trans. Of a plant: To produce (variations) by mutation. rare^–1.

1841.  Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), II. 89. Even in the garden, the Pansy retains its tendency to sport varieties of bloom.

  † 5.  trans. To amuse or divert (a person); to provide with sport or amusement; to cheer, enliven. Obs.

1577.  Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist., Euseb., VIII. xxiv. He beeing brought out of prison, and linked with malefactors to pastime and sport the people.

1579.  Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 31. Yet will they seeke when they neede not, to bee sported abrode at playes and Pageauntes.

1612.  J. Davies (Heref.), Muse’s Sacr., Wks. (Grosart), II. 25/2. There’s nought hath being got On, or in Earth, in Water, or in Aire, That eyther feedes, or heales, or sports me not.

1638.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 13. We … were sported all the way (till we dropt anchor) by Whales.

a. 1763.  Shenstone, Economy, II. 4. Nor grove nor stream Invites thee forth to sport thy drooping Muse.

  6.  † a. To express or represent in music or poetry. Obs.^–1

1693.  Dryden, Persius, VI. 9. Now, sporting on thy Lyre the Loves of Youth, Now Virtuous Age, and venerable Truth.

  † b.  To play or toy with (something). Obs. rare.

1709.  Mrs. Manley, Secr. Mem. (1736), IV. 106. She would … sport his Lips with her Fingers.

1807–10.  Tannahill, Poems (1846), 29. He baits the trap—catches a mouse—He sports it round the floor.

  c.  To pass, spend or enjoy (time) in sport or amusement. Also with away.

1760.  Fawkes, etc. Anacreon, Odes, xlix. 6. First draw a Nation blithe and gay, Laughing and sporting Life away.

1793.  Burns, ‘When wild war’s deadly blast was blawn,’ iii. At length I reach’d the bonie glen, Where early life I sported.

1871.  R. Ellis, Catullus, lxviii. 16. Whiles in jollity life sported a spring holiday.

  7.  To take or cast away in or as in sport; to throw away wantonly or recklessly; to scatter or squander. Now rare.

1713.  Guardian, No. 72. Let him who wantonly sports away the peace of a poor lady, consider what discord he sows in families.

1763.  Wilkes, in N. Briton (1772), III. 17. The liberty of an English subject is not to be sported away with impunity.

1778.  Ann. Reg., Hist. Eur., 136/1. He had sported away thirty thousand lives.

1798.  Geraldina, I. 76. Since we could find money to sport away at this rate, he would wait no longer.

1869.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1875), III. 39. The wealth of Eadward’s shrine was borne away to be sported broadcast among the minions of Henry’s court.

  II.  In slang or colloquial uses.

  † 8.  To read (an author) for sport or amusement. Obs. rare.

1693.  Humours Town, 16. Then for Books, ’tis only to sport an Author in a Bookseller’s Shop.

a. 1704.  T. Brown, Lond. & Lacedem. Oracles, Wks. 1709, III. III. 122. Last Night being very restless in my Bed, I thought fit to divert the Time with Sporting an Author.

  † 9.  To invest or stake (money) in some sport or in a highly speculative undertaking; to bet or wager. Also, to lay or make a (bet). Obs.

1707.  Refl. upon Ridicule, 386. She mingles with the Rascality, to sport the little Money she has got.

1784.  New Spectator, No. 10. 2. The man who ventures to sport that money in a lottery which ought to be appropriated to other uses, is but too apt to fly to the private gaming table.

1802.  Spirit Publ. Jrnls., VI. 333. During the time allowed before starting,… great clamour ensued, and much money was sported. Ibid. (1806), X. 60. Not a few bets were sported on the occasion.

1850.  Thackeray, Pendennis, xix. The chaps will win your money as sure as you sport it.

  fig.  1826.  Hood, Backing the Favourite, ii. At dear O’Neil’s first start, I sported all my heart.

  † b.  absol. To engage in betting; to speculate.

1760.  C. Johnston, Chrysal (1822), I. iv. 29. Sporting upon private adventures, taking in unwary confidence, flinging the fair trader,… were now too small a game for me.

1813.  Ann. Reg., Chron., 44. He … for some years had sported considerably on the turf.

  c.  To spend (money) freely or extravagantly and with ostentation.

1859.  H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xxxi. I took him for a flash overseer, sporting his salary, and I was as thick as you like with him.

1896.  Farjeon, J. Fordham, III. 279. Louis had plenty of money to sport, e’d been backin’ winners.

  10.  To display or exhibit, esp. in public or company. Freq. with implication of some degree of parade, ostentation or show.

  Very common from c. 1770 to c. 1830. The groups of quotations illustrate variation in the object.

  (a)  1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 366, ¶ 3. The Numbers … are as loose and unequal, as those in which the British Ladies sport their Pindaricks.

1768.  [W. Donaldson], Life Sir B. Sapskull, I. iv. 31. My grandfather [might have] missed the opportunity of sporting his historical abilities.

1784.  New Spectator, No. 22. 3. The consequence of Miss Pedant’s so universally sporting her knowledge is, that she is forsaken by all the world.

1800.  Coleridge, Lett. (1895), 323. He sported of his own account a theologico-astronomical hypothesis.

1844.  E. FitzGerald, Lett. (1889), I. 145. Don’t suppose I think it good philosophy in myself to keep here out of the world, and sport a gentle Epicurism.

1867.  Froude, Short Stud., I. 138. If a man … sports loose views on morals at a decent dinner party,… he is not invited again.

  (b)  1768.  [W. Donaldson], Life Sir B. Sapskull, II. xx. 158. [He] bought a set of horses … and sported the gayest equipage at all public places.

1785.  Trusler, Mod. Times, I. (ed. 3), 118–9. Here’s Parson Rawbones…. I shall sport him, however, at a day-lecture, or an early sacrament.

1819.  Crabbe, T. Hall, XV. 206. Then I shall hear what Envy will remark When I shall sport the ponies in the park.

1838.  Dickens, Nickleby, xxiii. A pilot, who sported a boat-green door, with window-frames of the same colour.

1868.  Miss Braddon, Run to Earth, i. You sported your pocket-book too freely last night.

  (c)  1784.  New Spectator, No. 22. 4. Mamma, and a Constant Admirer, sported their conspicuous … presence in the upper-boxes.

1819.  Metropolis, III. 132. She may be seen, when highly dressed, sporting her fine figure at her balcony.

  b.  To display on the person; to wear.

  Very common from c. 1780.

1778.  The Love Feast, 30. Some macaroni Barristers have presumed to sport Bags and Pig-Tails.

1786.  Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Juvenile Indiscr., I. 144. The regimentals,… stiff plaited chitterling, and silk stockings, were sported at church.

1805.  T. Harral, Scenes of Life, III. 64. One of his fingers, however, sported a ring.

1849.  Col. Hawker, Diary (1893). Sported my Peninsular medal this day at the Queen’s Levée.

a. 1868.  M. J. Higgins, Ess. (1875), 161. His ostensible luggage is small, yet he sports a wonderful variety of garments.

1893.  H. Vizetelly, Glances Back, I. i. 6. A country gentleman, sporting the orthodox blue coat,… and top-boots.

  c.  To set up, go in for, keep, support or use (a carriage, etc.).

1806.  Surr, Winter in London, I. 24. To retain the coach and black geldings which old Sawyer had sported before him.

1813.  Hor. Smith, Horace in London, 127. With a low bow I’ll quit the stage, And sport a villa near Parnassus.

1819.  Metropolis, III. 124. She is not, however, the only one … who sports her wax-lights from the retrenchment in coals.

1858.  E. B. Ramsay, Remin., v. (1867), 119. We hope some day to sport buttons.

  d.  In other uses (see quots.).

1770.  Gentl. Mag., XL. 560. It is said by the sons of science at Oxford, of a man in ebrious circumstances, that he cannot sport a right line.

1788.  Grose, Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 2), To sport or flash one’s ivory, to shew one’s teeth.

1794.  Gentl. Mag., LXIV. 1085/2. They sported knowing, and they sported ignorant; they sported an ægrotat…. They sported an exeat, they sported a dormiat.

1877.  [W. H. Thomson], Five Yrs.’ Penal Servitude, 82. If a man wishes to see the governor, the doctor, or the chaplain, he is to ‘sport the broom,’ lay his little hair-broom on the floor at the door, directly the cell is opened in the morning.

  11.  (Chiefly Univ. slang.) a. To sport oak or timber, to keep one’s door shut. Also fig. ? Obs.

1785.  Grose, Dict. Vulg. T., s.v. Oak. Ibid. (1788), (ed. 2), To sport timber, to keep one’s outside door shut: this term is used in the inns of courts to signify denying one’s self.

1806.  J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, VI. xxxv. Seeing the sun quietly slink behind a mass of black clouds, where he sports oak for the rest of the day.

1828.  [H. D. Beste], Italy, 275. There was no need, in the college phrase, to sport oak.

  b.  To close or shut (a door), esp. from the inside and as a sign that one is engaged.

c. 1803–.  [see OAK sb. 4 c].

1824.  Blackw. Mag., Oct., 460, note. The door being sported, simply means that it was shut.

1850.  Kingsley, A. Locke, xiii. Stop that till I see whether the door is sported.

1889.  Gretton, Memory’s Harkback, 59. His door was always sported; he had but little intercourse with the other Fellows.

  c.  To shut (a person) in by closing the door.

1825.  Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 291. Shutting my room door, as if I was ‘sported in.’

1852.  Bristed, Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2), 336. Generally … your Cantab takes care to guard against such a surprise by ‘sporting’ himself in.

  † 12.  To open (a door) with some force or violence; to force open. Obs.

1806.  J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, XIV. vi. Your half-fastened door is unceremoniously sported by a billow, which completely swamps your dressing-room.

1815.  Scott, Guy M., xlviii. Gae down and let loose the dog;… they’re sporting the door of the Custom-house.

  13.  To entertain or treat (a person) with food or drink by way of compliment or hospitality. Also with double object. rare.

1828.  Lytton, Pelham, III. xvi. 277. He kept his horses, and sported the set to champagne and venison. Ibid. (1830), P. Clifford, iv. I doesn’t care if I sports you a glass of port.

  Hence Sported ppl. a. (in sense 11 b).

1872.  ‘A. Merion,’ Odd Echoes Oxf., 38.

1887.  Jessopp, Arcady, 171. Outside the ‘sported door’ of some college magnate.