sportiven.2
/spɔːˈtiːv/, U.S. /spɔrˈtiv/ A long-distance road cycling event of a type originating in France, in which a large number of participants ride a marked route.
ΚΠ
2005 Re: Training for L'Etape 2006 in uk.rec.cycling (Usenet newsgroup) 7 Sept. I..did a mountainous French sportive this year, the only thing I could think to add to the good advice here is; Drink, drink lots.
2010 Ultra Fit 768/2 If you're committing yourself to training for a challenge such as a marathon, triathlon, or sportive, book some time in a sports science lab and get tested properly.
2013 R. Charlton et al. Fitter, Further, Faster 189/1 We're pretty sure that once you've ridden your first sportive you'll soon be filling in your next entry form.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
sportiveadj.n.1
/ˈspɔːtɪv/, U.S. /ˈspɔrdɪv/ A. adj.
1. Of a person or mental faculty: inclined to jesting or levity; light-hearted or playful in temperament, thought, or manner of expression; (also) capricious, fanciful.In quot. 1601 in a personification.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > lack of seriousness > [adjective]
gamelike1592
sportive1593
badine1685
galliardizing1695
flippant1724
unsedate1823
flip1847
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 90v They are nought els but cleanly coyned lyes, which some pleasant sportiue wittes haue deuised, to gull them most groselie.
1601 R. Chester Loves Martyr 19 Her land of Grace, Where honest sportiue Mirth did alwaies dwell.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) i. ii. 58 I am not in a sportiue humor now: Tell me, and dally not, where is the monie? View more context for this quotation
1676 J. Glanvill Seasonable Refl. 31 'Tis equally absurd to be sportive about affairs that are serious.
1698 J. Collier Short View Immorality Eng. Stage vi. 278 The Tunes are generally Airy and Gailliardizing: They are contriv'd on purpose to excite a sportive Humour, and spread a Gaity upon the Spirits.
1736 S. Duck Poems Several Occasions 76 I, o'er the Park, thro' Wilds of Beauty, stray; Where sportive Nature wantons at her Will, And lavishes her Bloom, uncheck'd by Skill.
1778 F. Burney Let. 27 Aug. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 106 2 little productions..full of sportive humour.
1782 V. Knox Ess. (new ed.) II. clxviii. 341 With a rich and sportive fancy he combined a solid judgment.
1801 J. W. Croker Amazoniad ii. 20 That they are two, by sportive Chance was done, For Nature had design'd to make them one.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 541 Three generations of serious and of sportive writers wept and laughed over the venality of the senate.
a1876 T. Aird Poet. Wks. (1878) 295 The dignity sedate Of orphanhood, a law unto itself, Fell on the sportive girl.
1931 R. A. Firor Folkways in T. Hardy iii. 56 The jack-o'-lantern is..a sportive creature whose innate love of mischief causes him to lead travelers astray.
1989 A. Habegger Henry James & ‘Woman Business’ (2004) 143 The voice we hear in this sentence is not that of a bereaved friend but of an already sportive imagination.
1992 C. Nicholson I. C. Smith: Crit. Ess. xv. 195 Stories..in which a sportive God portrays irrational existence.
2. Of speech, etc.: characterized by lightness or levity; humorous, witty; mischievous, playful.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > lack of seriousness > [adjective] > characterized by lack of seriousness
sportive1593
ludicrous1619
subrisive1819
subrisory1861
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 34 The young-men in their merry-running Madrigals, and sportiue Base-bidding Rundelayes.
1655 J. Mennes & J. Smith Musarum Deliciæ (title page) Conteining severall select Pieces of sportive Wit.
1743 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Odes (new ed.) I. ii. xii. 17 In raillery the sportive jest.
1826 F. Reynolds Life & Times II. 166 The ensuing sportive anecdotes may appear frivolous.
1864 Brit. Millennial Harbinger 1 Jan. 15/2 In speaking evil of any man, or in jesting and sportive speech.
1945 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. I. 637 The Negroes use various other sportive terms for whites, e.g., pale-face, chalk and milk.
2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 Oct. ii. 11/2 The sportive Albee play..comes as a welcome break, the actors agreed... It's frothy and meringuey and absolutely delicious and funny.
3.
a. Disposed to be playful or lively in movement; frisky, frolicsome. Frequently in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > playfulness > [adjective]
gamingOE
playfulc1225
gamefulc1275
gamelya1350
gamesomea1375
playable?c1475
frisky?a1500
sporting1549
sportful1577
toyish1577
toyful1580
sportive1593
gambol1600
sportly1600
sporting1607
playsome1612
jiggish1635
toysome1638
ludible1656
ludibund1668
good-humoured1682
flippant1711
lusory1711
gamp1737
kittenish1753
sportable1767
disportive1773
whisky1782
playward1878
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares Ep. Ded. Giue mee leaue with the Sportiue Sea Porposes, preludiatelie a little to play before the storme of my Teares.
1651 Bp. J. Taylor XXVIII Serm. x. 129 The bait is in their mouths, and they are sportive; but the hook hath strook their nostrils, and they shall never escape the ruine.
1658 T. Bancroft Heroical Lover v. 44 Viewing the motions of the sportive Floud.
a1721 M. Prior To Madam K. P. in Wks. (1907) 7 Lively the Nymphs and sportive are their Swains.
1728 J. Thomson Spring 42 His sportive Lambs..in friskful Glee, Their..Frolicks play.
1769 W. Falconer Shipwreck (ed. 3) ii. 50 Near the lofty stern, A shoal of sportive dolphins they discern.
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 567 The sportive wind blows wide Their flutt'ring rags.
1807 G. Crabbe Parish Reg. ii, in Poems 86 There, Werter sees the sportive Children fed.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Cyclops in Posthumous Poems (1824) 332 This sportive band of Satyrs near the caves.
1827 R. Pollok Course of Time I. iii. 135 Its breath was cold, and made the sportive blood, Stagnant, and dull, and heavy.
1927 A. C. Parker Indian How Bk. v. lvii. 250 Wolf cubs were sportive little villains.
1995 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 5 Feb. 10/3 The Atlantic coastal waters, where humpback whales and sportive dolphins frolic and blow.
b. Of a quality or sentiment: characterized by liveliness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > excitability of temperament > spiritedness or liveliness > [adjective]
jollyc1325
kedgec1440
fledge?1461
frisky?a1500
sprightya1522
frisk1528
sprightful1550
quick-spirited1552
lively1567
quick-sprighted1579
alive-like1582
aleger1590
firking1594
sprightly1594
sportive1595
mettled1599
alives-like1601
spirited1601
spirituous1601
mettle1606
great-stomached1607
free-spirited1613
spirity1615
spiritous1628
vivacious1645
rattlingc1650
sportful1650
airy1654
animated1660
racy1671
mettlesome1673
sparklinga1704
raffing?1719
bob1721
vivace1721
alive1748
lifey1793
spunky1831
gilpie1835
bubbling1860
chippy1865
bubblesome1879
colourful1882
sparky1883
bubbly1912
jazzy1917
spritzy1973
sparkly1979
kicking1983
1595 G. Markham Most Honorable Trag. Sir R. Grinuile sig. B4v The sea, which then was heauie, sad, and still, Dull, vnapplyd to sportiue wantonnesse,..Had crownd with griefe, the worlds wet wildernesse.
1722 R. Blackmore Redemption i. 6 To him the floods their flowing chrystal bring, Where fish with sportive races please their King.
1743 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Odes II. iii. xviii. 13 See my flocks in sportive vein Frisk it o'er the verdant plain.
1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms ii. 450 A gaudy flag..Hung up in sportive joy by those Whose sports and joys are past.
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 222 Exhibiting a kind of dance,..performed with the most sportive vivacity.
1867 N.Y. Times 15 Sept. 8/3 Gossips never weary of telling of the sportive gaiety and youthful vivacity of the Empress Eugenie.
1912 Lincoln (Nebraska) Daily Star 22 Apr. b5/1 As if the elves of the north had, in sportive playfulness, thrown a veil about our eyes and enticed us to the very ‘seat eternal of the gods’.
1996 New Yorker 21 Oct. 200/1 Brown has long had about him a sportive, Cyrano-esque panache not unlike the raffish flair of the Bay City itself.
4.
a. Engaging in or inclined to amorous dalliance or sexual play; (in later use also) devoted to pleasure; inclined to indulge in pursuits regarded as dissolute or immoral; fast-living, dissolute.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > [adjective]
golec888
canga1225
light?c1225
wooinga1382
nicea1387
riota1400
wantonc1400
wrenec1400
lachesc1450
loose?a1500
licentious1555
libertine1560
prostitute1569
riggish1569
wide1574
slipper1581
slippery1586
sportive1595
gay1597
Cyprian1598
suburb1598
waggish1600
smicker1606
suburbian1606
loose-living1607
wantona1627
free-living1632
libertinous1632
loose-lived1641
Corinthian1642
akolastic1656
slight1685
fast1699
freea1731
brisk1740
shy1787
slang1818
randomc1825
fastish1832
loosish1846
slummya1860
velocious1872
fly1880
slack1951
the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > [adjective] > amorously sportive
toying1549
toyish1563
toyous1592
sportive1595
toysome1638
1595 F. Sabie Flora's Fortune sig. C2v Twice..Did Cinthia see Agenors sportiue sonne, Courting Iulina his new-wedded wife, And froliking in olde Tuistons Court.
1649 R. Baron Apol. for Paris 30 Hither will I send a wanton Bevie of sportive waggish Nymphs to attend thee.
1791 H. Downman Poems to Thespia 39 Nor could I, to the joys of sense resign'd, The sportive wanton to my bosom press.
1801 J. B. Burges Richard the First I. xv. 215 Say why, my hero! are our joys delay'd? Mark how the sportive songsters of the glade Nature's blest law with ecstasy pursue.
1855 R. Browning Fra Lippo Lippi in Men & Women I. 35 Where sportive ladies leave their doors ajar.
1996 A. Wightman Karlowicz iv. 53 It is only by concentrating his mind on his ‘dear Edyta’ back home that Plum is able to resist the temptation to tweak the cheeks of a ‘sportive’ blonde.
b. Of the nature of, relating to, or characterized by (esp. amorous) pleasure, or the pursuit of this; wanton, dissipated. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > profligacy, dissoluteness, or debauchery > [adjective]
wild13..
desolatec1386
unthrifty1388
riotousc1405
resolute?a1475
palliard1484
dissolutea1513
royetous1526
sluttishc1555
rakehell1556
dissolutious1560
rakehelly1579
hell-raking1593
sportive1597
low1599
lavish1600
rakellyc1600
profligate1627
profligated1652
rantipole1660
abandoned1690
raking1696
rakish1696
dissipated1744
dissipating1818
outward1875
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. i. 14 I that am not shapte for sportiue trickes, Nor made to court an amorous looking glasse.
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets cxxi. sig. H2 For why should others false adulterat eyes Giue salutation to my sportiue blood? View more context for this quotation
1613 T. Heywood Brazen Age sig. I2v Whilst the Cuckold Vulcan blowes the fire, Our amorous soules their sportiue blisse conspire.
1773 Orange-girl at Foote's to Sally Harris 4 My timorous Steps with soft Persuasion led, Where sportive Love had rais'd the Wanton Bed.
1799 A. Kessell Two Adams 15 Hence sportive chambering, and wanton lust, With beastial scenes, too black to be exprest.
1807 T. Dibdin Two Faces under Hood i. ii. 10 In sportive glee pass'd every day, Till one false youth came in my way, And now I'm left to sigh and say, Heigho! heigho!
1849 H. A. Wise Los Gringos xlix. 404 She neither assumes any of their virtues, but leads a rollicking, sportive life.
1956 R. Macaulay Towers of Trebizond xxiv. 280 Vere was apt to lead a sportive life of pleasures and palaces, yachts and private planes.
5. † a. Affording or providing amusement or entertainment; relating to, characterized by, or of the nature of recreation or diversion. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > [adjective]
bourdfula1425
sportive1613
ludicrous1619
lusorious1619
lusory1653
recreational1656
society > leisure > entertainment > [adjective] > produced in, or as in, amusement or entertainment
sportive1774
1613 I. F. Christes Bloodie Sweat 41 How much more better were it to forgoe A life so grieuous, and a death so sportiue?
1705 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft 45 They go to Bowls, and other sportive Exercises every Sunday.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 358 He then placed them in a cage at his chamber window, to be amused by their sportive flutterings.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake i. 22 The sportive toil..Had dyed her glowing hue so bright.
1839 T. Mitchell in Aristophanes Frogs 148 (note) A die (the sportive instrument of playful youth).
1874 J. P. Mahaffy Social Life Greece xi. 351 The Greeks made their serious pursuits, especially their religion, sportive.
b. Of an action or activity: devised or undertaken for the purposes of entertainment; amusing, diverting; recreational, fun.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > mere amusement > [adjective]
sportful1609
sportive1616
sported1687
1616 T. Scot 2nd Pt. Philomythie sig. C2v Thus in sportiue war, and warlike sport, You doe your rider from himselfe transport.
1639 T. Bancroft Two Bks. Epigrammes & Epit. ii. sig. L3v Thus who doth allay His mirth.., May (Cocke-sure) take his pleasure; and delight (With peace of Conscience with) a sportive fight.
1743 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Odes (new ed.) I. i. viii. 16 Where are now the livid scars Of sportive, nor inglorious, wars?
1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho IV. ix. 163 The apparition of the dead comes not on light, or sportive errands.
1837 W. Irving Adventures Capt. Bonneville II. 105 Quickened by a sportive volley which the Indians rattled after him.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 400 It was now not a sportive combat, but a war to the death.
1986 C. R. Forker Skull beneath Skin 386 Crispiano's..view of getting and spending as a sportive contest between two different forms of personal gratification.
2000 H. Simpson Hey Yeah Right (2001) 151 Possibly she was proactive in her rapprochement with her husband.., bearhugging him, exchanging sportive punches.
6.
a. Engaging or inclined to participate in physical forms of recreation; active or interested in games, field sports, or athletic activities; sporting, sporty.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > player or sportsperson > [adjective]
sporting1679
sportive1713
sportsmanly1778
sportsmanlike1816
reserve1869
sporty1889
sportif1953
1713 A. Pope Windsor Forest 3 No wonder Savages or Subjects slain Were equal Crimes in a Despotick Reign; Both doom'd alike for sportive Tyrants bled, But Subjects starv'd while Savages were fed.
a1843 J. Nicholson Poems (1859) 49 The hounds into the valley ran; The fox his cover broke; The sounds cheer'd every sportive man—The hills—the valleys spoke.
1893 C. G. Leland Memoirs I. 37 Uncle William was a kind-hearted ‘sportive’ man, who took Bell's Life.
1969 Daily Tel. 13 Mar. 18 Sportive readers of this paper's report yesterday on the pay talks of 90 Tonbridge cricket ball makers.
1998 I. de la Bere Last Deception Palliser Wentwood i. 18 Hand-coloured engravings showing sportive English chaps.
2000 A. S. R. Riepma Fire & Fiction 176 This..heroine is also a sportive woman; a friend of the family describes Eglah as follows: ‘in her physique, gymnastic training leaves nothing to be improved.’
b. Of clothes: suitable for sporting or informal wear, sporty. Cf. sportif adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > for specific purpose > informal wear > informal or sports wear
sporty1895
sportive1935
sportif1953
1935 Amer. Speech 10 193/2 Combinations like smoothly sportive, fetchingly feminine..are numberless.
1963 C. Beaton Diary 15 Feb. in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) 358 In his yachting jacket and sportive shoes, he has something about his swash-buckling style that reminds me of Douglas Fairbanks, Senior.
2004 Drapers Rec. & Menswear 24 Apr. (verso front cover) This theme is super chic, full of lightness and joie de vivre blended with a hint of sportive.
7. † b. Having the character of a sport, natural curiosity, or anomaly (cf. sport n.1 6). Obsolete.
a. Of a living organism, esp. a plant: liable to sport or vary unusually from the true type or usual appearance; characterized by sporting. Now rare.Relating to the conventional depiction of nature (personified) as a playful or capricious entity; cf. 1736 at sense A. 1 and sport v. 8.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > variety or species > [adjective] > producing mutations
sportive?1734
sporting1850
?1734 Pract. Husbandman & Planter II. i. 106 The Walnut-Tree is a most sportive Plant, or, in other Words, the most apt to degenerate from the Kind that was sow'd.
1793 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 2) III. 282 It [sc. the fungus Merulius Cantharellus] is very apt to be sportive and monstrous in its growth.
1868 C. Darwin Variation Animals & Plants I. 315 [He] was forced to reject some of his new sub-varieties, which he suspected had been produced from a cross, as incorrigibly sportive.
1891 W. Allan Dis. Skin (ed. 3) iv. 52 It is this sportive tendency manifested by skin diseases which adds so much to the difficulty of their diagnosis.
1922 Rose Ann. 98 The sportive tendency of the moss Rose—the original moss is said to be a sport from the Provence—is remarkable.
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 130/2 It is the tendency of the pansy tribe to be naturally ‘sportive’ that spurred the early cultivators into action in the mid-nineteenth century.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > [adjective] > changes or actions of genes or chromosomes > mutation
sportive1796
mutating1877
mutant1903
mutational1904
mutated1919
macromutational1952
saltational1963
macromutationist1988
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature I. vi. 341 Examine, on their gowns and handkerchiefs, the sportive productions of their imagination: there you have the flower of the pink, on the foliage of the myrtle.
1799 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 1 73 The mineral kingdom, with all the riches, beauties, and sportive productions it contains.
1804 J. Parkinson Org. Remains Former World I. 24 The vis plastica, the vis formativa, and the sportive creations of nature, were terms yet in frequent use.
1825 J. M. Good Study Med. (ed. 2) I. 427 By what means they are rendered subservient to such an infinite variety of sportive and anomalous effects.
1884 D. Stewart Law Marriage & Divorce xl. 269 A natural variation from the original type without any apparent cause; a sportive fancy of the plant.
Something which is merely amusing or diverting and not of a serious character. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > mere amusement > [noun]
playeOE
gameOE
sportive?c1622
?c1622 E. Bolton Hypercritica (1722) 237 If they have seen that incomparable Earl of Surrey his English Translation of Virgil's Æneids.., [they] will bear me witness that those other were Foils and Sportives.
Compounds
sportive lemur n. any of various lemurs of the Madagascan genus Lepilemur (the sole extant genus in the family Lepilemuridae), which are nocturnal and herbivorous with grey-brown to reddish fur; frequently with distinguishing word or words.
ΚΠ
1897 H. O. Forbes Hand-bk. Primates I. 89 The round-headed sportive-lemur.
1967 Jrnl. Confl. Resol. 11 369/2 Most of the species [of lemur] are diurnal and have normal societies of mutual aid and cooperation, but the nocturnal ‘sportive lemur’ is interestingly different.
2004 G. Pitcher & P. Wright Madagascar & Comoros 51 Long, powerful back legs enable the various species of sportive lemurs to make prodigious leaps from tree to tree.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.22005
adj.n.11593- non-steady
- non-stellar
- non-steroidal
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
- non-stick
- non-stoichiometric
- non-stoichiometry
- non-stop
- non-story
- non-striated
- non-striker
- non-structural
- non-subject
- non-subjective
- non-submission
- non-subscribe
- non-subscriber
- non-subscribing
- non-subscription
- non-subscriver
- non-substantial
- non-substantialism
- non-substantialist
- non-success