Dictionary

sporter en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des- Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *-téh₂ Proto-Indo-European *pr̥téh₂ Proto-Italic *portā Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Proto-Italic *portāō Latin portāre Old French porter Anglo-Norman desporterbor. Middle English disporten Middle English sporten English sport English -er English sporter From sport + -er.

Meanings

1. Someone who sports something.
   • But today, the mustache cannot shake its ties to the sexy-yet-buffoonish machismo of the mid-1970s, epitomized by Burt Reynolds, Sam Elliott and the Village People, 'stache sporters all. 2009 January 8, David Colman, “Inching Its Way Back Onto the Lip”, in New York Times:
2. A firearm suitable for sporting use.
3. (archaic) One who takes part in sport or games.
   • Charles Lack-wit will have it given out, he is retired into the country, only for the reputation of being thought a man of fashion, when all the while his retirement is to be incessantly hurried with the violence of a madman after a pack of yelping hounds; or brutally murdering whole months of delicious time in noisy laughter, wine, and ribaldry, with Sir Jolly Timberscull, 'Squire Humdrum, and the rest of the club of gentlemen sporters. 1780, The London Magazine, Or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer:
4. One who sports or plays with something; a trifler.
   • We have, however, good reason to suspect the Legislature will soon adopt means of rewarding the ingenuity of these indirect sporters with human life. 1823, The Monthly Gazette of Health, page 557:

Forms

Deriveds

sporterize