body English
1
9.0
- noun
- Jargon
:
movimiento corporal
- body English can help
- a little body English
- use body English
Examples
-
Her lithe body twisted slightly as she strove to force a result with body English.
Fiction book (1995) -
During the bowling match, she leaned to the side, using body English to try to guide the ball into the pocket.
-
As he threw the baseball, he shifted his weight and added some body English to help it curve around the batter.
-
The golfer adjusted his stance and applied body English to direct his shot towards the pin on the green.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is partly compositional: 'body' (physical movement) combined with 'English' (a technical sports sense of side/backspin) suggests a bodily motion used to influence a ball, so a learner who knows both senses can form a reasonable guess. However, the sense of 'English' as 'spin' is specialized jargon and not a common meaning of the word cross-linguistically, so the exact sporting usage and nuance are not fully predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Body English may come from pool, where the word 'English' meant spin on the ball; players would lean or twist their body after a shot as if to add that spin. That's why body English means the small movement of your body after you hit or throw something to try to change its direction.