List of Sports Idioms - W

W

win by a nose

Horse racing: To succeed by a very narrow margin. "Our bid for the construction contract won by a nose." In horse racing, it describes a win so close that only the nose of the winning horse came in ahead of the other. AHDI dates the sports usage to about 1900, the figurative to sometime after 1950. OED, however, cites a literal usage in 1851, but does not cite a figurative usage until 1997, and that in the phrase "lost by a nose."

wheelhouse

Baseball: A person's area of expertise,or where they are most comfortable. In baseball this is the part of an individual's swinging range in which as a hitter they can make the best contact with the ball. If a pitch is right in your wheelhouse it is right where you want it, in the spot where you have the best chance of hitting it well.

work out, work-out, workout

Boxing: To exercise or practice, especially in terms of physical training; also, the act of working out. Work out was a term for boxing for practice as opposed to a set contest. OED gives the earliest boxing reference as 1927, non-boxing as 1929.