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The following is a list of phrases from sports that have become idioms (slang or otherwise) in English. They have evolved usages and meanings independent of sports and are often used by those with little knowledge of these games. The sport from which each phrase originates has been included immediately after the phrase.
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
To have " skin in the game " is to have incurred risk ( monetary or otherwise) by being involved in achieving a goal. In the phrase, "skin" refers to an investment (literal or figurative), and "game" is the metaphor for actions on the field of play under discussion. [ 1] The aphorism is particularly common in business, finance, and gambling ...
Break a leg. " Break a leg " is an English language idiom used in the theatre or other performing arts to wish a performer "good luck". An ironic or non-literal saying of uncertain origin (a dead metaphor ), [ 1] "break a leg" is commonly said to actors and musicians before they go on stage to perform or before an audition.
Bite the bullet. " Biting the bullet " is a metaphor which is used to describe a situation, often a debate, where one accepts an inevitable impending hardship or hard-to-refute point, and then endures the resulting pain with fortitude. The phrase (as "bite on the bullet") was first recorded by Rudyard Kipling in his 1891 novel The Light that ...
Idiom. An idiom is a phrase or expression that usually presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase. Some phrases which become figurative idioms, however, do retain the phrase's literal meaning. Categorized as formulaic language, an idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning. [ 1]
Glossary of English-language idioms derived from baseball. This is an alphabetical list of common English-language idioms based on baseball, excluding the extended metaphor referring to sex, and including illustrative examples for each entry. Particularly American English has been enriched by expressions derived from the game of baseball.
Running out the clock. In sports strategy, running out the clock (also known as running down the clock, stonewalling, killing the clock, chewing the clock, stalling, time-wasting (or timewasting) or eating clock[ 1]) is the practice of a winning team allowing the clock to expire through a series of preselected plays, either to preserve a lead ...