Olympic Games

Proper noun

the Olympic Games pl (plural only)

1. (plural, plural-only) An international multi-sport event (inspired by the ancient festival) taking place every fourth year.
   • Every athlete's dream is to compete at the Olympic Games.
   • Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games received a boost yesterday when its most famous former resident, the American president, Barack Obama, ended months of speculation by announcing that he would fly to Copenhagen before Friday's vote, in order to lobby on the city's behalf.2009 September 28, Owen Gibson, The Guardian

   Synonyms:

   Olympics, Games[Appendix:Glossary

2. (historical, plural, plural-only, Ancient Greece) A sporting festival held every four or five years on the Plain of Olympia in southern Greece, in honour of Zeus; these games were the inspiration for the modern version, which began in the 1890s as a revival of the Ancient Greek ones.
   • The first Olympic Games are traditionally dated to 776 BC.
   • In the times of the Olimpike games, with chariots exceeding all other in magnificence, he also sent poets and musitians to present his verses, with tents and pavillions gilt and most suinptuously tapistried.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   Olympics