golf
pronunciation
How to pronounce golf in British English:
UK [ɡɒlf]
How to pronounce golf in American English:
US [ɡɑːlf]
-
- Noun:
- a game played on a large open course with 9 or 18 holes; the object is use as few strokes as possible in playing all the holes
-
- Verb:
- play golf
Word Origin
- golf (n.)
- mid-15c., Scottish gouf, usually taken as an alteration of Middle Dutch colf, colve "stick, club, bat," from Proto-Germanic *kulth- (cognates: Old Norse kolfr "clapper of a bell," German Kolben "mace, club, butt-end of a gun"). The game is from 14c., the word is first mentioned (along with fut-bol) in a 1457 Scottish statute on forbidden games (a later ordinance decrees, "That in na place of the realme thair be vsit fut-ballis, golf, or vther sic unprofitabill sportis" [Acts James IV, 1491, c.53]). Despite what you read on the Internet, "golf" is not an acronym. Golf ball attested from 1540s; the motorized golf-cart from 1951. Golf widow is from 1890. Oh! who a golfer's bride would be, Fast mated with a laddie Who every day goes out to tee And with him takes the caddie. ["The Golf Widow's Lament," in "Golf," Oct. 31, 1890]
- golf (v.)
- c. 1800, from golf (n.). Related: Golfed; golfing.
Example
- 1. Some vietnamese government officials are teed off over golf .
- 2. I bought a golf cap for father 's birthday .
- 3. Yet a golf tournament is different .
- 4. Do golf tournaments benefit the community ?
- 5. The beaches and golf courses renowned .