List of Sports Idioms - G

G

gambit

Boxing: A strategem or tactic; chess: an opening system that involves a pawn sacrifice to gain the initiative right from the start. The term arrives in modern parlance through chess, but originates in wrestling from the Italian gambetto, tripping the opponent. OED cites the chess usage to 1656, the figurative usage to 1855.

get the ball rolling

Some ball games: To start an endeavour. Some ball games are started by rolling a ball into play. AHDI dates to the late 18th century. See also keep the ball rolling, below.

glass jaw

Boxing: Vulnerability, especially of a public figure, to destructive criticism. In boxing, a fighter who is especially vulnerable or susceptible to a knockout is said to have a glass jaw.

the gloves are off

Boxing, Hockey: See take off the gloves, below.

go the distance

Boxing: Carry through a course of action to completion. A boxer goes the distance when he can fight through all the scheduled rounds. OED cites the boxing idiom to 1934, but does not date its figurative usage.

go to the mat

Wrestling: to engage in an argument or dispute, especially until one side is victorious. In wrestling, it means to engage in a wrestling bout, the mat being the surface on which the contest is fought. OED cites the wrestling usage to 1908, the figurative to 1912; however, AHDI states it has been used in its figurative sense "since about 1900".

move the goalposts

Football: to change the rules to make it difficult for others to achieve something.