- a game in which two opposing teams of 11 players each defend goals at opposite ends of a field having goal posts at each end, with points being scored chiefly by carrying the ball across the opponent's goal line and by place-kicking or drop-kicking the ball over the crossbar between the opponent's goal posts.
- the ball used in this game, an inflated oval with a bladder contained in a casing usually made of leather.
- Rugby (def. 1).
- soccer.
- something sold at a reduced or special price.
- any person or thing treated roughly or tossed about: They're making a political football of this issue.
- a briefcase containing the codes and options the president would use to launch a nuclear attack, carried by a military aide and kept available to the president at all times.
- to offer for sale at a reduced or special price.
- any of various games played with a round or oval ball and usually based on two teams competing to kick, head, carry, or otherwise propel the ball into each other's goal, territory, etc
- (as modifier)
- the ball used in any of these games or their variants
- a problem, issue, etc, that is continually passed from one group or person to another and treated as a pretext for argument instead of being resolved
