In ice hockey and lacrosse, a legal defensive move where a player uses their body to block or knock an opponent off the puck or ball.
Compound of 'body' and 'check,' emerging from 1800s ice hockey terminology. 'Check' in hockey means to defend against an opponent, so a bodycheck literally means using your body to execute that defensive action.
Hockey players invented this term because they needed precise vocabulary for their sport—a 'bodycheck' is different from a 'tripping' penalty or a 'slash,' and these distinctions matter when millions are watching and rules must be clear.
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