Part 679

Against whom do ye sport yourselves?

Isa. lvii. 4.

2. To represent by any knd of play.

Now sporting on thy lyre the loves of youth.

Dryden.

3. To exhibit, or bring out, in public; to use or wear; as, to sport a new equipage. [Colloq.] Grose.

4. To give utterance to in a sportive manner; to throw out in an easy and copious manner; -- with off; as, to sport off epigrams. Addison.

To sport one's oak. See under Oak, n.

Sport`a*bil"i*ty (?), n. Sportiveness. [Obs.]

Sport"al (?), a. Of or pertaining to sports; used in sports. [R.] "Sportal arms." Dryden.

Sport"er (?), n. One who sports; a sportsman.

As this gentleman and I have been old fellow sporters, I have a frienship for him.

Goldsmith.

Sport"ful (?), a. 1. Full of sport; merry; frolicsome; full of jesting; indulging in mirth or play; playful; wanton; as, a sportful companion.

Down he alights among the sportful herd.

Milton.

2. Done in jest, or for mere play; sportive.

They are no sportful productions of the soil.

Bentley.

-- Sport"ful*ly, adv. -- Sport"ful*ness, n.

Sport"ing, a. Of pertaining to, or engaging in, sport or sporrts; exhibiting the character or conduct of one who, or that which, sports.

Sporting book, a book containing a record of bets, gambling operations, and the like. C. Kingsley. -- Sporting house, a house frequented by sportsmen, gamblers, and the like. -- Sporting man, one who practices field sports; also, a horse racer, a pugilist, a gambler, or the like. -- Sporting plant (Bot.), a plant in which a single bud or offset suddenly assumes a new, and sometimes very different, character from that of the rest of the plant. Darwin.

Sport"ing*ly, adv. In sport; sportively.

The question you there put, you do it, I suppose, but sportingly.

Hammond.

Sport"ive (?), a. Tending to, engaged in, or provocate of, sport; gay; froliscome; playful; merry.

Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court?

Shak.