[f. as prec. + -SHIP.] The performance or practice of a sportsman; skill in, or knowledge of, sport; conduct characteristic or worthy of a sportsman.
1745. Fielding, Tom Jones, III. x. He had … greatly recommended himself … by leaping over five barred gates, and by other acts of sportsmanship.
1826. Miss Mitford, Village, II. 308. The boys showed great sportmanship [sic] on this occasion.
1841. Edinb. Rev., LXXIII. 382. He was not one of the Brummell set, or he would scarcely attribute the origin of Melton to their sportsmanship.
1897. Outing, XXX. 239/2. If this advance … in oarsmanship can be accompanied with an advance in sportsmanship.
