Verb. (old).—Generic for display: 'the word . . . was in great vogue in . . . 1783 and 1784' (Grose); now-a-days still general, but spec. a public school and university usage. Thus to sport (or baulk) a report = to publish far and wide; to sport (= drive) a gig; to sport (= wear) new togs; to sport ivory = to grin; to sport (= exhibit) temper; to sport oak (timber, or to sport in) = to deny oneself to callers by closing an outer door: see Oak; to sport an ægrotat (see Ægrotat); to sport off = to do with ease; to sport (= provide) a dinner; to sport literature = to write a book; to sport (= spend) money, one's salary, &c.; to sport (= express) an opinion; to sport a nescio (see Nescio); to sport silk (racing) = to ride a race; to sport (= indulge or engage in) smoking, walking, &c. Whence (Winchester) a sporting action = an affected manner, gesture or gait, or a betrayal of emotion. [Cf. sport (var. dial.) = to show, to exhibit.] Sportings (Charterhouse) = clothes worn at the Exeat (q.v.).
1794. Gent. Mag., 1085. They [at Cambridge] sported an Ægrotat, and they sported a new coat.
1825-7. Hone, Ev.-Day Book, Feb., 22. Shutting my room door, as if I was sported in, and cramming Euc.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford (1854), 29. Paul, my ben cull . . . I doesn't care if I sports you a glass of port.
1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xx. Beaux . . . of society who sport a lace dickey and nothing besides.
1853. Mrs. Gaskell, Cranford, i. By-and-by, Captain Brown sported a bit of literature.
1850. Kingsley, Geof. Hamlyn, xxxi. I took him for a flash overseer, sporting his salary, and I was as thick as you like with him.
1882. Punch, lxxxii. 147, 2. Anybody can enter here who chooses to sport his blunt.
1885. D. Chron., 28 Dec. Duly qualified by age to sport silk and satin on the public racecourse.
d. 1890. J. H. Newman, Works [Century]. A man . . . must sport an opinion when he really had none to give.
1896. Lillard, Poker Stories, 246. For two days those fellows sported it on that dollar.
1896. Farjeon, Betray. of John Fordham, III. 279. Louis had plenty of money to sport; e'd been backin' winners.
1897. Marshall, Pomes, 46. She sported her number one gloss on her hair, And her very best blush on her cheek. Ibid., 68. That O. P. fairy . . . sports a real diamond ring.
1900. Tod, Charterhouse, 102. The splendour of Exeat garb defies description. It is enough to say that the Carthusian's apparel then is as costly as his purse will buy, and that he calls it sportings.
Spot, subs. (venery).—1. The female
pudendum: see Monosyllable.
1705. Ward, Hud. Rediv., I. x. 18. They hide that tempting spot, That caus'd old Adam's Fall.
2. (American).—Shares (or goods) ready for delivery: that is 'on the spot.'
1902. D. Mail, 17 Nov., 2, 2. The quotation for two months' forward delivery declined 1-16d. to 22 11-16d., but was unchanged at 22-3/4d. for spot.
3. (American gaming).—A dollar: e.g., five spot = five dollars; $5.
1896. Lillard, Poker Stories, 246. But one single dollar remained of that five spot.
Verb. (colloquial).—1. To recognise; to take note of; to discover. Also 2. (thieves') = to detect, to come upon: hence spotter = a detective: Fr. indicateur: whence spotted = known to the police (Tufts, 1791); and
