five-a-sideadv.adj.n.
/ˌfʌɪvəˈsʌɪd/, U.S. /ˌfaɪvəˈsaɪd/ Sport (chiefly British).
A. adv.
With five players on each team. Usually in to play five-a-side.Some instances with to play are syntactically ambiguous, and could be interpreted as illustrating the noun.
ΚΠ
1878 Times 5 Aug. 7/2 Tennis established itself in England at any early date... It appears..to have been then played five a side.
1893 Liverpool Chess Club 20 In November the return match was played, five a side, and resulted in a draw.
1904 Boston Daily Globe 21 Sept. 8/6 There will be a team match, five a side, at 36 holes.
1951 D. H. Allport Short Hist. Wilson's Grammar School xii. 160 In February 1899 the first match was played (five a side).
2009 A. Bell Battling on Bosphorus xviii. 288 It didn't matter if we were five-a-side, I said, as long as we played some form of cricket.
B. adj.
Designating a modified form of football with five players on each team, typically with smaller goals and on a smaller pitch, played either outdoors or indoors (cf. futsal n.); of or relating to this form of football.
ΚΠ
1881 Preston Chron. & Lancs. Advertiser 3 Sept. 3/7 Five-a-side Football Contest.
1889 Aberdeen Weekly Jrnl. 11 Apr. 3/4 A special feature of the sports will be five a-side football.
1951 Sport 27 Apr. 4/3 A five-a-side football match is being played between Glasgow's Celtic and Rangers.
1989 R. Graef Talking Blues iii. 98 They have weekend camps, Blue Lamp discos and five-a-side championships.
2011 A. Gibbons Act of Love (2012) x. 104 We still played football at the all-weather five-a-side pitch once a week.
C. n.
Five-a-side football; a game of this.
ΚΠ
1883 Dundee Courier & Argus 14 Aug. 2/6 A new feature in football north of the Forth was introduced..in a game of five a-side, on Saturday.
1897 Glasgow Evening Times in Dundee Courier & Argus 14 June 3/4 Even in Dundee the five-a-side has a distinct commercial value.
1919 Highland Light Infantry Chron. Jan. 6/2 The finals of the five-a-sides and handball competitions are played off.
1974 Times 1 May 33/1 Football will draw the crowds for a night of awards..and for five-a-side (ITV 10.45).
2014 A. Welsh Soccer Goalkeeping Handbk. (ed. 3) xxii. 157/1 In five-a-side the keeper is much more reactive and cannot leave his area.
2015 West Briton (Nexis) 23 July (Sport section) 77 The five-a-side starts at 10am.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.adj.n.1878