Onside Kick Definition & Meaning

Definition

Etymology

Examples

Synonyms onside kick American Or onsides kick

noun

Football.

1. a kickoff deliberately kicked a short distance in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball by recovering it after it has traveled forward the legally required distance of 10 yards, beyond the 50-yard line.

Etymology

Origin of onside kick

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Georgia executed an onside kick from its own 20-yard line and Cash Jones fell on it.

From Los Angeles Times

Chicago’s furious comeback involved one of the less likely plays in football in recent years: actually recovering an onside kick.

From The Wall Street Journal

And these days, teams can’t even try the surprise onside kick.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Cougars drove 99 yards in eight plays and scored on a 12-yard pass from Derek Garcia to Tristan Phillips on fourth and goal to pull within a touchdown with 2:40 left, but San Francisco St. Ignatius College Prep recovered the ensuing onside kick and gained a first down to run out the clock and hang on for a 42-35 victory in the CIF state Division 3-AA bowl game.

From Los Angeles Times

South Gate is the same team that lost in the City Division II final last season in another wild ending in which the Rams took a safety with one second left, then botched an onside kick and lost on a 32-yard field goal by Chatsworth on the final play.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.