body surfingn.
/ˈbɒdɪ ˌsəːfɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈbɑdi ˌsərfɪŋ/ The action or sport of riding a breaking wave (or occasionally a river current) without a surfboard, usually by holding the body rigid.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > water sports except racing > surfing > [noun] > types of
body surfing1908
hot-dogging1929
kamikaze1963
rollercoasting1968
boogie boarding1978
longboarding1982
kiteboarding1996
1908 St. Nicholas Mag. Aug. 878/2 He delights..by giving exhibitions of body surfing, that is, he uses his body as a surfboard and comes in with a wave.
1913 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 10 Dec. 7/4 There are spots on the beach near Honolulu where it is but necessary to lay outstretched before a wave to be carried up to the beach and gently deposited there—this is body-surfing, the delight of the Australians.
1956 S. Hope Diggers' Paradise xviii. 166 This body-surfing is exclusively an Australian development. It needs..practice if you want to show off.
1988 Courier-Mail (Queensland) (Nexis) 14 June Body surfing was then the only type of surfing in Australia and The Duke could not understand why no board riders were on the waves which resembled those in Hawaii.
2002 M. T. Sullivan Labyrinth 245 Rather than fight the river..he rolled over into the classic bodysurfing position—feet together, back arched, arms extended perpendicular to the body, hands cupped like a rudder.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1908