Sports Idioms

Sports provide us with lots of idioms that are used in sports and sometimes in non-sporting situations.

To "call an audible" in American football means to improvise, often in the spur of the moment. The term is based on the practice of changing a play right before the play is run by the quarterback yelling some coded message to the team.

To "hit below the belt" comes to us from boxing. It means to act unfairly or unscrupulously, in disregard of the rules. To hit an opponent below their belt is an illegal move in boxing. Outside the ring, people use it to mean anything said or done that is a "low blow" and unfair.

If someone says that "the gloves are off," they could be borrowing from boxing or hockey. In boxing, fighting without gloves and bare fists is dangerous. Similarly, in ice hockey, when the gloves are off or player "drop the gloves," it means they have engaged in a fight, throwing off their gloves to punch with bare knuckles. This term is used both figuratively and literally. If two businessmen negotiating say "the gloves are off," it means that anything goes and they expect tough negotiations.