keepy-uppyn.
/ˈkiːpɪˌʌpi/, U.S. /ˈkipiˌəpi/ British.
The action or game of keeping a ball (typically a football) in the air for as long as possible by bouncing it a number of times off any part of the body except the hands and arms. Also: an instance of this.
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1965 J. T. R. Ritchie Golden City (1999) i. 21 Other football pastimes are ‘shootin' in’, ‘crossin'’, and ‘keepie-uppie’.
1976 Brit. Chess Mag. Dec. 555/2 ‘Keepie uppie’ (if my dialect spelling is correct)—a sport which consists of two people alternately heading a football, the object being to keep the ball in the air as long as possible.
1983 Times 17 Nov. 20/6 I used to play keepy-uppy, all that sort of thing. You become the master of the ball.
2002 C. Baim & S. Brookes Geese Theatre Handbk. v. 74 The object of Keepy-Uppy is for the entire group to keep the ball in the air as long as possible.
2013 Adweek (U.S.) 2 Dec. 13/1 Playing a game of ‘keepie-uppie’—juggling and kicking a ball back and forth, while trying not to let it hit the ground.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1965