soccer

noun
/ˈsɒk.ə/UK/ˈsɑk.ɚ/US

Etymology

Originally British English; as an abbreviation for association football, via abbreviation assoc. + -er (suffix); earlier socker (1885), also socca (1889), with soccer attested 1888. Compare contemporary rugger, from rugby. Similarly constructed coinages from the same period include: brekker (“breakfast”), fresher (“freshman”) and footer (“football”). See Oxford -er.

Definitions

  1. Association football.

    • The 'Varsity played Aston Villa and were beaten after a very exciting game; this was pre-eminently the most important "Socker" game played in Oxford this term.
    • Golf is perhaps seven or eight years old in Oxford, ... football, seu Rugger, sive Soccer, not more than sixteen or seventeen.
    • Those who play under the "Socker" (Association) rules in the North of England, the Midlands, and Scotland take no heed of the warmness of the weather
  2. To kick the football directly off the ground, without using one's hands.

    • The rule seems to have encouraged players to soccer the ball along the ground.
    • […]West Perth seemed on the verge of victory, only to succumb by 4 points after a soccered goal from Old Easts with less than half a minute remaining.
    • Fevola showed the best and worst of his play after dropping a simple chest mark, only to regather seconds later and soccer the ball through from the most acute of angles.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at soccer. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01soccer02hands03hand04resembles05resemble06regard07steady08resolute09firm10football

A definitional loop anchored at soccer. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at soccer

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA