football
n. C / Un. a popular team sport played with a ball on a large field. In most of the world, players use their feet to kick the ball into a goal, while in the US, players use their hands and feet.
n. a team sport involving a ball, played on a rectangular field with goals at each end. The term typically refers to association football (soccer) globally, or American football within the United States.
The children play football in the park every Saturday.
The local stadium was packed with fans wearing team colors for the final football match of the season.
While the technical requirements of professional football have evolved, the sport remains fundamentally a test of collective strategy and physical endurance played out over ninety minutes of high-intensity competition.
From Middle English fotbal, footbal, equivalent to foot + ball, because the ball was primarily manipulated with the feet in early versions of the game (though some modern varieties involve more handling than kicking). The name for the briefcase is a play on “dropkick”, the code name of an early version of the nuclear war plan.
Uncountable when referring to the sport itself; countable when referring to the physical ball used in the game.