Bobsledding

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The activity of competing in races using a sled designed for sliding down a frozen track involves teamwork and speed
2. A form of winter sport, this involves teams navigating a sled designed for icy tracks, emphasizing precision and speed
3. The sport of racing down an ice track on a specially designed sled at high speed

Etymology: The sport takes its name from two older words that had nothing to do with ice. "Sled" descends from Middle Dutch "sledde," a sledge or sled, and the same root lies behind the Old Saxon and Middle Low German forms, all traceable back to a Proto-Germanic word for a sliding vehicle. English took "sled" from that Germanic stock, so the vehicle's name is an old borrowing from the Low Countries rather than a native English coinage. "Bob" is the more curious half. It is the English word meaning a short, bouncing movement, the same bob that describes a hairstyle or a float on a fishing line. Joined to "sled," it describes a sled whose runners are linked in pairs, so that the two sets of runners rock or "bob" as the vehicle moves. The compound "bobsled" is simply the sum of those two parts: a bouncing sled, built for speed down a track.

Synonyms: sledding, luge, bobsleighing