touch football
8
3.2
- noun
- /tʌtʃ ˈfʊtbɔl/
- US
:
fútbol de toque
- On weekends, we enjoy playing touch football at the park with our friends.
- play touch football
- touch football game
- touch football team
I remember when we would play like a of, you know, touch football on the street when I was growing up.
- I remember when we would play like a of, you know, touch football on the street when I was growing up.
Examples
-
Dwight D. Eisenhower played golf; John F. Kennedy played touch football.
Fiction book (1995) -
What do you say we play a little touch football, huh?
-
This is a group playing touch football.
-
We'll play some touch football.
-
I was pretty good at touch football.
Blog text (16) -
At least you're gonna stay for the touch football game.
-
Welcome to the tri-county touch football night league.
-
I was thinking if you weren't doing nothing, maybe we could play a game of touch football.
-
But one day, one lunchtime, we played touch football.
Blog text (16) -
During the Kennedy era, we referred to our house as Hickory Hill and played touch football on the lawn.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
1
4.6
A form of football where another player stops someone by touching them with both hands
Touch football where another player touches someone twice to tackle them
How Physical
- US
40
3.5
- US
8
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a form of football where players stop the ball carrier by touching instead of tackling' is directly and compositionally derived from 'touch' + 'football'. This follows a common sports-naming pattern (modifier + sport) that is cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows both words will very likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Touch football is named after the simple action of touching the player with the ball instead of tackling them. Because a light touch ends the play, the name now means 'a safer form of football where players stop the ball by touching rather than tackling'.