free kick
7
2.3
- noun
- /fri kɪk/
- Specialized
:
tiro libre
- Free kick to Liverpool.
- take a free kick
- awarded a free kick
- dangerous free kick
He said, well, I scored this free kick once and it was sick.
- He said, well, I scored this free kick once and it was sick.
- And I think it was might have been Argentina who got a free kick.
- And then I think sport, when David Beckham curled that free kick in the top corner which we qualified for the World Cup, it did not matter.
Examples
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Candreva drew the sides level ten minutes before the break, drilling a free-kick from 35 yards into the net.
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It's a free kick 25 yards out.
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- It's going to be a free kick, with only seconds to go.
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I want you to take the free kick.
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- We get a free kick.
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And the referee gives a free kick.
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Beckham, with a free kick.
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The keeper handled the free kick superbly with a clean catch.
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Higginson with the free kick, looking for an equalizer.
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Kevin De Bruyne served up a perfect free kick for Belgium to open the scoring in the 10th minute.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is compositionally built from 'free' (here meaning 'not restricted' or 'without interference') + 'kick' (a strike), so a learner who knows the non-cost sense of 'free' can infer a kick taken without opponents blocking it. This is a common, cross-linguistic sports term (e.g., Spanish 'tiro libre'), so the sense is predictable rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
The term free kick comes from the clear image of a player getting a kick that is free, because opponents must stand back so the player can kick without being blocked. That's why a free kick today is a kick 'after a foul' taken with no close opponents.