Sports Phrases

Sports Phrases Archive

Peanuts, Cracker Jack

Vendors have been crying Peanuts, Cracert Jack! In ball parks (and at circuses... [Article]

	Aboveboard

	Aboveboard means honest. First recorded in the late sixteenth century, the expression... [Trivia]

According To Hoyle

According To Hoyle refers to a Short Treatise on the Game of Whist by Englishman [Article]

	Ace In The Hole

	ACE IN THE HOLE - A stud poker card dealt face down and hidden from... [Trivia]

	Ace Up One's Sleeve

	ACE UP ONE's SLEEVE - Ever since crooked gamblers in the wild and woolly west began... [Trivia]

Aces

In American slang aces has meant the best since at least the beginning... [Article]

Air Ball

Today&'s fans would have trouble deciphering newspaper accounts... [Article]

Alibi Ike

Someone who is always making excuses or inventing alibis... [Article]

	Basketball

	The game of basketball might be called boxball today if... [Article]

	Beat To The Punch

	British boxing champion Daniel Mendoza weighed only 160 pounds... [Article]

	Blue Ribbon

	There is an interesting story behind the blue ribbon given to winners of athletic... [Article]

Box Score

box score has taken on the extended meaning of a record... [Article]

Bronx Cheer

Bronx Cheer... The Bronx, one of New York City’s five boroughs, takes its name from Jonas Bronck... [Article]

Bush League

Since the turn of the century, minor league baseball leagues... [Article]

Call His/Her Bluff

Call His/Her Bluff... This widely used phrase certainly originated in American poker games of the early nineteenth... [Trivia]

Can of Corn

A high, easy to catch flyball of pop-up. There are numerous... [Article]

Casey At The Bat

This mock heroic poem by Ernest Laurence Thayer (1863-1940) was first... [Article]

Chinese Home Run

Because Chinese immigrants were forced to work for little pay at the turn of the... [Article]

Chip In

Poker chips are the basis of a number of English expressions. To chip in... [Article]

Dead Man's Hand

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok had come to Deadwood, Dakota Territory... [Article]

Dealing From The Bottom Of The Deck

This expression passed into general use from the American poker tables of the... [Trivia]

Dem Bums

Dem Bums, This nickname for the Brooklyn Dodgers, beloved of memory... [Article]

Derby

Derby is the American name for a version of the dome-shaped, felt hat... [Article]

Devil's Picture Book

This colorful, little-known term for “playing cards” was used by the Puritans... [Article]

Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth

The age of a horse can be roughly determined by examining its teeth. That... [Article]

Don't Look Back, Something May Be Gaining On You

This sage advice from baseball great Leroy “Satchel” Paige... [Article]

Don't Make Waves

Team players in any sport usually don"t make waves... [Article]

Double-header

A railroad train pulled by two locomotives was called a double-header... [Article]

Down And Dirty

Down And Dirty... In stud poker the last cards are dealt face down, often followed by the dealer's... [Trivia]

Down To The Wire

For over a century wire has been synonymous for the finish line... [Article]

Draw To An Inside Straight

An inside straight is a very difficult straight to draw for in poker. It is so difficult... [Trivia]

Fancy Footwork

Originally a term from American boxing describing the footwork of a skillful boxer... [Article]

Fast Shuffle

A fast shuffle by a crooked cardplayer often results in a deck stacked... [Trivia]

Father of Baseball

This is the name given to Henry Chadwick, a British-born author whose writings... [Article]

Fire Fishing

An unusual sport practiced by the voyageurs and others after them fire fishing... [Article]

Fish or Cut Bait

Fish or cut bait is an American expression that comes from fishing... [Article]

Four-Flusher

A person who puts on an impressive front but has no substance... [Trivia]

Gamble Away The Sun Before Sunrise

This saying about gold and riches might be considered the first American... [Article]

Give And Take

The expression give and take is first recorded (1769) in British horse racing... [Trivia]

Go For The Long Ball

This contemporary American slang means to take a big risk... [Trivia]

Golf-ball Dimples

Englishman William Taylor is credited with manufacturing the first golf ball with... [Article]

Gridiron

Gridiron is a football term inspired by Walter Camp, the Father... [Article]

High Five

High-fiving is a celebratory gesture where two participants raise their hands... [Article]

In A Hole

This expression for "in debt or some other kind of trouble" can be traced... [Article]

In the Clutch

In the Clutch - A baseball player who performs well in a critical moment of a game has been... [Article]

It's All Over But The Shouting

Meaning victory is certain, this expression seems to have appeared in print... [Article]

Ivy League

The colleges referred to as the Ivy League are Harvard... [Article]

Jack Armstrong, The All-American Boy

Jack Armstrong, and Frank Meriwell before him, seem to have no counterpart today on the airwaves... [Article]

Jackpot

The source of this synonym for a big win isn"t the slot machine that pays out... [Article]

Jinx

Jinx - Baseball Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson was among the first to use this... [Article]

Judo

Judo means the gentle way in Japanese. It is a modern variation of the... [Article]

Just For Openers

Originally a poker term dating back to the early nineteenth century, and strictly... [Trivia]

Kitty

Willard Espy offers the following explanation for kitty, the pot to which poker players... [Article]

Knuckle Down

Marble players may be credited for this expression, which dates back to 17th century... [Article]

Kung Fu

Historians tell us that there is little positive evidence of the Chinese philosopher's... [Article]

Last Licks

Since at lease 1883, last licks has meant a team’s last three outs in baseball, its... [Article]

Long Shot

With a six-foot English longbow made of seasoned heart of red yew, which was so valued... [Article]

Nice Guys Finish Last

This cynical proverb has been attributed by Bartlett's to former Brooklyn Dodger... [Article]

No Room To Swing A Cat

This phrase may have something to do with the old 'sport" of swinging cats... [Article]

Open And Shut

First recorded in 1848, open and shut probably didn"t originate in a lawyer's office... [Trivia]

Our National Pastime

Baseball was becoming a truly national game in about 1856,when... [Trivia]

Pigskin

Football players have been calling a football the pigskin since at least 1894... [Trivia]

Playing To The Grandstand

Playing to the grandstand or grandstanding is a baseball... [Article]

Poker

Poker takes its name from the French poque for a similar card game... [Article]

Potshot

Hunters who killed game without any regard for rules of sportsmanship, who... [Trivia]

Pull a Fast One

Pull has been slang for "to engineer a deception" for well over a century... [Trivia]

Read'Em And Weep

A common cry of a card player or crap shooter after a good hand or roll of the... [Trivia]

Red Dog

Linebackers "hound" or "dog" the passer in a football red dog... [Article]

Screwball

King Carl" Hubbell is probably responsible for this thirties" expression meaning an eccentric... [Trivia]

Seeing Stars

The expression seeing stars is frequently used to describe... [Article]

Send to the Showers

This phrase, meaning "to dismiss or reject someone," is from baseball... [Trivia]

Seventh-Inning Stretch

These words have become synonymous for a brief break from any long... [Article]

Skate On Thin Ice

The allusion here is to skating over ice so thin that it hardly bears the... [Trivia]

Stand Pat

American poker players in the late nineteenth century invented this expression to indicate... [Article]

The First to Row Across the Atlantic

Carrying no sail or motor to tempt them, George Harpo and Frank Samuelson set our... [Article]

The Three Foot High Hitter

You could count on the knuckles of one thumb the number of midgets who have appeared... [Article]

To Farm Out

Branch Rickey, then with the St. Louis Cardinals, founded baseball’s... [Article]

To Have One's Brains Knocked Out

To have one's brains knocked out is not a modern Americanism for to be badly beaten in a fight... [Article]

	To Lay An Egg

	Comedians and other entertainers lay an egg when their acts fail... [Article]

To Play a Hunch

Gamblers once believed that rubbing a hunchback’s hump brought good luck... [Article]

Wild Card

The term wild card has been known in card games since the early sixteenth... [Trivia]

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Sports Phrases Archive