kick-off

See also: kickoff and kick off

English

Alternative forms

• kickoff

Etymology

Deverbal from kick off.

Noun

kick-off (plural kick-offs)

1. (soccer, American football) The opening kick of each half of a game of football.
   • 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     The atmosphere at Upton Park before kick-off reflected the palpable tension surrounding the club right now

   • 2021 July 4, Michael Savage, “Early kick-offs linked to more alcohol abuse and violence in the home”, in The Observer‎^[2]:

     Alcohol consumption following football matches is fuelling domestic abuse in the hours after a game, according to new evidence suggesting that changing kick-off times could help reduce violence.

2. (by extension) The opening sequence of any event.
3. (music) The opening sequence of notes in a song, usually played by the song's main instrument, to indicate the beginning of the song.

Translations

opening kick in football

• Arabic: اَلْبِدَايَة f (al-bidāya)
• Catalan: servei inicial (ca) m, servei de centre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 開球／开球 (zh) (kāiqiú)

• Czech: výkop (cs) m
• Dutch: aftrap (nl) m
• Estonian: avalöök
• Finnish: avauspotku
• French: coup d’envoi (fr) m
• German: Anstoß (de)
• Italian: calcio d'inizio m
• Japanese: キックオフ (ja) (kikku-offu), 先蹴 (せんしゅう, senshū)
• Norwegian: avspark n
• Polish: rozpoczęcie meczu n, rozpoczęcie spotkania n
• Portuguese: pontapé inicial m, pontapé de saída m
• Russian: введе́ние мяча́ в игру́ n (vvedénije mjačá v igrú), кик-о́фф m (kik-óff)
• Spanish: saque inicial m, saque (es) m
• Swedish: avspark (sv) c

opening sequence of an event

• Catalan: seqüència d'obertura d'un esdeveniment m
• Finnish: alkupotku, aloitus (fi), avaus (fi)
• French: lancement (fr) m
• German: Auftakt (de) m, Startschuss (de) m
• Italian: inizio (it) m, partenza (it) f
• Portuguese: tiro de partida, pontapé inicial m
• Russian: старт (ru) m (start), нача́ло (ru) n (načálo)
• Spanish: pistoletazo de salida m