quarterbackn.
/ˈkwɔːtəbak/, U.S. /ˈkwɔrdərˌbæk/ 1. Rugby. A name formerly given to a position or player situated immediately behind the forwards; cf. halfback n. Now historical.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > characteristics of team ball games > [noun] > players or positions
wing-back1734
goalkeeper1789
outfielder1855
quarter1857
centre fielder1865
outfield1867
quarterback1867
right1867
centre1868
left wing1871
left-back1873
left half-back1873
centre forward1874
left-centre1877
right-centre1877
centre back1878
centre half-back1879
forward1879
back1880
right wing1880
right half-back1881
goaltender1882
right-winger1882
wing1882
centre half1884
left winger1884
inside1886
half1887
custodian1888
left half1888
midfielder1888
left wing1889
right half1889
centreman1890
midfield1890
outside right1890
outfieldsman1891
goalie1894
winger1896
infield1897
inside forward1897
inside right1897
outside forward1897
outside1898
outside left1900
rearguard1904
pivot1911
wing-man1942
keeper1957
link1958
linkman1963
midfield1976
1867 Edinb. Evening Courant 21 Jan. 6/3 Half backs, W. A. Scott and R. Wise, quarter backs P. H. Cosens and C. Robertson.
1895 Westm. Gaz. 8 Nov. 2/1 Your ‘quarter-backs’, as half-backs were then called, waited for the ball to roll out.
1936 Times 5 Feb. 6/1 ‘Quarter-back’ was a term used in Ireland and also Scotland at this time [sc. in 1878] for half-back.
1996 Scotsman (Nexis) 6 Apr. 25 The wheel and dribble will soon be officially laid to rest... Times change..and you might as well lament the passing of quarter-backs and bulldogs from the positional nomenclature.
2. American Football.
a. Originally: a player stationed between the forwards and halfbacks, by whom the team's play is coordinated and directed. In modern practice: the player lining up behind the centre of a team on offence, who calls the signals, usually receives the ball when it is snapped back by the centre, and directs the team's offensive play.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > types of player
side tackle1809
nose guard1852
rusher1877
goalkicker1879
quarterback1879
runner1880
quarter1883
full back1884
left guard1884
snap-back1887
snapper-back1887
running back1891
tackle1891
defensive end1897
guard1897
interferer1897
receiver1897
defensive back1898
defensive tackle1900
safety man1901
ball carrier1902
defensive lineman1902
homebrew1903
offensive lineman1905
lineman1907
returner1911
signal caller1915
rover1916
interference1920
punt returner1926
pass rusher1928
tailback1930
safety1931
blocker1935
faker1938
scatback1946
linesman1947
flanker1953
platoon player1953
corner-back1955
pulling guard1955
split end1955
return man1957
slot-back1959
strong safety1959
wide receiver1960
line-backer1961
pocket passer1963
tight end1963
run blocker1967
wideout1967
blitzer1968
1879 Boston Daily Globe 14 Dec. 5/1 The teams were organized as follows: Princeton..quarter-back, Rogers.
1880 Convent. Oct. 12, 1880, Springfield, Mass. in P. H. Davis Football (1911) 468 The man who first receives the ball from the snap-back shall be called the quarter-back.
1899 W. Camp in M. Shearman et al. Football (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) (new ed.) xxii. 286 Seven rushers or forwards,..a quarter-back, who stands just behind this line; two half-backs [etc.].
1912 E. Ferber Where Car turns at 18th in Buttered Side Down xii. 212 He had played quarter-back every year from his freshman year.
1947 Sun (Baltimore) 15 Aug. 12/6 He is a stocky man who..has the build of a quarterback.
1979 Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. c9/1 Oakland quarterback Ken Stabler..played the first quarter and part of the second.
2001 Sun 27 Jan. 69/1 Stragusa is..a 24st 2lb man-mountain who hits opposing quarterbacks like an avalanche.
b. In extended (ironic) use: a supporter or critic of football, one who claims special knowledge of and insight into a game or team; usually in compounds, as downtown quarterback, grandstand quarterback, etc. Hence: any person who does not participate in something but analyses, advises, or criticizes from a distance or with hindsight; one who is wise after the event. See also armchair quarterback n. at armchair n. and adj. Compounds; Monday-morning quarterback n. at Monday-morning adj. Compounds.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > supporter
quarterback1927
subway alumnus1933
1927 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 16 Oct. 15/1 Year after year, the grandstand quarterbacks and schedule makers moan because Notre Dame, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Penn and such teams can not be induced to come here.
1930 Los Angeles Times 26 Apr. 9/4 ‘Huh!’ snorted one of the Sunday-morning quarterbacks. ‘Wonder what the great managerial idea was to leave Baccht in until he was hammered for six runs in the sixth inning.’
1932 N.Y. Times 26 Oct. 20/2 A New York football correspondent, taking a taxi from a South Bend hotel to the Notre Dame campus..sought a little inside information from the ‘downtown quarterback’ at the wheel.
1947 Collier's 15 Nov. 17 (heading) Penn's downtown quarterbacks were a gloomy lot when George Munger became grid coach.
1949 Collier's 19 Nov. 18/3 The quarterbacks in the stands consider Pop Warner's system..obsolete.
1976 Sunday Sun (Baltimore) 10 Oct. k4/4 Somebody who sits in Washington D.C., 18 months after the Mayaguez incident, can be a very good grandstand quarterback.
1992 Utne Reader Mar.–Apr. 44/2 Budweiser's bouncing..babes entertain legions of living room quarterbacks.
2005 Marketing 4 July 3 What I want to know is where were all those cocksure grandstand quarterbacks?
c. figurative. A person who masterminds or coordinates an operation or project; a director, leader.
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society > authority > control > person in control > [noun] > director
mastereOE
steerc897
ordainerc1443
director1477
rector1482
sayer1483
orderer1496
solicitera1530
temperator1591
ordinator1615
sternera1634
dirigent1756
chargé d'affaires1797
quarterback1931
1931 Time 7 Dec. 11/1 Next to the Speaker in power and prestige ranks the Majority Floor Leader, a sort of legislative quarterback who runs the team from behind the line of scrimmage.
1933 Christian Sci. Monitor 17 Nov. 14/1 Any great fright over President Roosevelt's latest maneuver as quarterback of the recovery team should be left to that most rumor-harried and naive of spectators, Wall Street.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 10 July 27/5 Van Burkleo is an original-thinking quarterback who can run his own show.
1978 Guardian Weekly 1 Jan. 18/1 King Juan Carlos I, Franco's 39-year-old successor, and Premier Adolfo Suarez, the monarch's 44-year-old political quarterback.
2004 W. Larimore God's Design for Highly Healthy Child iv. 83 For most of your child's medical care..it's to your advantage to learn how to be your child's health care quarterback.
3. Australian and New Zealand. A sheep that is three-quarters merino and a quarter cross-bred. Now rare.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [noun] > Ovus Aries (domestic sheep) > specific breeds or members of > quarterback
quarter-bred1852
comeback1883
quarterback1891
1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. 360 When a pure Merino ram is put to a cross ewe the produce is termed a ‘come-back’ or ‘quarter-back’.
1933 Press (Christchurch, N. Z.) 30 Sept. 15 In New Zealand I think these sheep [sc. comebacks] are oftener called quarterbreds or quarter-backs.
1940 E. C. Studholme Te Waimate 96 Using Merino rams on the cross-bred ewes, the progeny being known as Quarter Backs.
Compounds
quarterback club n. American Football an association of supporters actively interested in promoting a particular team's success; (loosely) any group supporting a team.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > supporter > club
quarterback club1930
1930 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 16 Oct. 20/8 Sit in on any gathering of any sideline quarterback club and sooner or later up pops the question, ‘How's Slippery Rock doin'?’
1935 Chicago Tribune 21 Oct. 23/6 Among the spectators at the Bears-Dodgers' game yesterday at Wrigley field were 50 members of Arch Ward's quarter back club.
1937 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 4 Nov. 13/3 Talks to weekly meeting of the Uptown Quarterback Club, nee Grandstand Managers' Association.
1951 Sun (Baltimore) 9 Oct. 21/1 Special funds contributed by..downtown quarterback clubs.
1998 Greatest Moments Florida Gators Football 56/1 Two years ago..the Gainesville Quarterback Club had its welcome barbecue for the Florida football team.
quarterback sack n. American Football = sack n.1 1j.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
rush1857
punt-out1861
goal-kicking1871
safety1879
safety touchdown1879
scrimmage1880
rushing1882
safety touch1884
touchback1884
forward pass1890
run1890
blocking1891
signal1891
fake1893
onside kick1895
tandem-play1895
pass play1896
spiral1896
shift1901
end run1902
straight-arm1903
quarterback sneak1904
runback1905
roughing1906
Minnesota shift1910
quarterbacking1910
snap-back1910
pickoff1912
punt return1914
screen forward pass1915
screen pass1920
power play1921
sneak1921
passback1922
snap1922
defence1923
reverse1924
carry1927
lateral1927
stiff-arm1927
zone1927
zone defence1927
submarine charge1928
squib1929
block1931
pass rushing1933
safetying1933
trap play1933
end-around1934
straight-arming1934
trap1935
mousetrap1936
buttonhook1938
blitzing1940
hand-off1940
pitchout1946
slant1947
strike1947
draw play1948
shovel pass1948
bootleg1949
option1950
red dog1950
red-dogging1951
rollout1951
submarine1952
sleeper pass1954
draw1956
bomb1960
swing pass1960
pass rush1962
blitz1963
spearing1964
onsides kick1965
takeaway1967
quarterback sack1968
smash-mouth1968
veer1968
turn-over1969
bump-and-run1970
scramble1971
sack1972
nose tackle1975
nickel1979
pressure1981
1968 Los Angeles Times 9 Oct. iii. 8/7 The Rams still pace the NFL in total yardage allowed, 221.8 yards per game, and quarterback ‘sacks’, 46.
1988 Touchdown Nov. 11/2 Nine quarterback sacks..kept the Raiders off balance.
2005 Washington Post 23 Oct. (Sports section) 14 The Redskins haven't managed much of a pass rush, with five quarterback sacks.
quarterback sneak n. American Football a play in which a quarterback carries the ball instead of handing or passing it to another player, esp. a short fast run through the offensive line.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
rush1857
punt-out1861
goal-kicking1871
safety1879
safety touchdown1879
scrimmage1880
rushing1882
safety touch1884
touchback1884
forward pass1890
run1890
blocking1891
signal1891
fake1893
onside kick1895
tandem-play1895
pass play1896
spiral1896
shift1901
end run1902
straight-arm1903
quarterback sneak1904
runback1905
roughing1906
Minnesota shift1910
quarterbacking1910
snap-back1910
pickoff1912
punt return1914
screen forward pass1915
screen pass1920
power play1921
sneak1921
passback1922
snap1922
defence1923
reverse1924
carry1927
lateral1927
stiff-arm1927
zone1927
zone defence1927
submarine charge1928
squib1929
block1931
pass rushing1933
safetying1933
trap play1933
end-around1934
straight-arming1934
trap1935
mousetrap1936
buttonhook1938
blitzing1940
hand-off1940
pitchout1946
slant1947
strike1947
draw play1948
shovel pass1948
bootleg1949
option1950
red dog1950
red-dogging1951
rollout1951
submarine1952
sleeper pass1954
draw1956
bomb1960
swing pass1960
pass rush1962
blitz1963
spearing1964
onsides kick1965
takeaway1967
quarterback sack1968
smash-mouth1968
veer1968
turn-over1969
bump-and-run1970
scramble1971
sack1972
nose tackle1975
nickel1979
pressure1981
1904 Los Angeles Times 9 Oct. iii. 1/1 By Holland's quarter-back sneak of 15 yards and a series of bucks the ball was worked over the center to the 45-yard line.
1947 Time 3 Nov. 74/3 The story Bob liked best was Dad's quarterback sneak.
1994 Gazette (Montreal) 6 Nov. d1/1 McGill scored on a Lucchetta quarterback sneak in the third quarter.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
quarterbackv.
/ˈkwɔːtəbak/, U.S. /ˈkwɔrdərˌbæk/ Chiefly U.S.
1. transitive. American Football. To play quarterback for (a team); to direct as quarterback.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > play American football [verb (transitive)] > actions to players
tackle1884
nail1888
block1889
quarterback1892
rough1904
rush1913
to fake out1931
straight-arm1934
submarine1941
red-dog1950
clothesline1959
spear1964
sack1969
1892 Boston Daily Globe 25 Dec. 26/1 The foot ball eleven were captained, quarter-backed and much more than quarter made up from D [company].
1919 N.Y. Times 23 Dec. 11 A snappy signal session of fifteen minutes ensued, with Murray quarter-backing the first team.
1950 Life 9 Oct. 66/2 Bob calmly quarterbacked the team to its first victory.
1972 J. Mosedale Football v. 62 Detroit, coached by Buddy Parker and quarterbacked by Bobby Layne, exhibited a strange mastery.
2006 Washington Post 20 May (Sports section) 13 Matt Goff quarterbacked the Robinson football team to the Virginia AAA football championship game in 2004.
2. transitive. In extended use and figurative. To direct or coordinate (an operation); to lead.
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society > authority > control > [verb (transitive)] > direct
rakeeOE
rule1340
demean?a1400
direct?1510
hold1577
mastermind1927
quarterback1943
1943 Charleston (W. Virginia) Daily Mail 2 Apr. 2/1 Doughton..quarterbacked the Democrats in defeating the..skip-a-year tax plan.
1971 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 26 Oct. 1/7 Bush..quarterbacked what UN observers regarded as Washington's worst diplomatic defeat.
1984 Washington Post 25 Feb. c10/1 Rev. J. Bryan Hehir..quarterbacked the production of the Catholic bishops' pastoral.
2004 I. Calder Untold Story viii. 158 I quarterbacked every detail of the sting.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1867
v.1892