Goaltender

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A player assigned to guard the goal in various team sports, whose main duty is to thwart scoring attempts by intercepting shots or balls directed at the goal
2. An athlete responsible for protecting the net in sports like hockey or soccer, aiming to stop the opposing team from successfully scoring by blocking their shots
3. A sports position dedicated to defending the goal by preventing opponents from scoring, primarily through the interception of shots or pucks directed towards the net

Etymology: "Goaltender" is a plain compound: "goal" joined to "tender," someone who looks after or tends something. A tender is, in the older sense, a person charged with watching over or caring for a thing, as in a bartender or a ship's tender. Put together, the word describes someone whose job is to look after the goal, the target the opposing side is trying to reach. The "goal" half is itself the interesting part. In the sporting sense it came from the idea of a boundary or finishing point in a race or contest, and the same word sits behind the older meaning of a fixed stopping place. So the goaltender is literally the tender of the finishing line, the one standing between the ball and the place where a point is scored. The compound follows the same pattern as other sports positions built on "tender" or "keeper," which is why it reads so transparently. Its meaning has barely shifted: the job still is to guard the goal.

Synonyms: goalkeeper, netminder