> as lemmas

a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 458 Þe people maken þe same seuerall grounde a sportyng place with shotyng & other games.

1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Ludicrum certamen, a sportyng game.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. i. 330 Like a schoole broke vp, Each hurries toward his home, and sporting place. View more context for this quotation

?1790 Dhooraling 3 Altho' decriped blind and lame, She long'd for a touch of the sporting game.

1817 W. Scott Rob Roy I. v. 94 The uniform of a sporting association.

1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. I. 155 Dyson could always make up a little sporting party.

1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay ii. 25 A little further conversation on financial and sporting topics.

a1907 F. Thompson Wks. (1913) I. 211 Pan-imbued Tempe wood, Pretty player's sporting-place.

1920 Times 14 June 15/3 Among the sporting events which follow each other in..June, Royal Ascot..is unique.

1968 Kingston (Ont.) Whig-Standard 27 Nov. 16/1 Orienteering is a Swedish sport, and in Scandinavia as a whole, it dominates the sporting scene.

1991 I. Sinclair Downriver v. 128 Two of the ‘potato-heads’ began to fight..with sufficient spunk to attract the sporting instincts of the assembled Jocks.

2004 Daily Tel. 24 June 25/4 Harrow's desire to ‘one-up’ Eton in the sporting arena grows stronger by the day.