touchdown

/ˌtʌtʃˈdaʊn/

/ˈtʌtʃdaʊn/

Other forms: touchdowns

A touchdown is a six-point score in football. Another kind of touchdown is what happens the moment a landing airplane's wheels touch the ground.

If you're a nervous flyer, you probably breathe a sigh of relief at touchdown. And if you're a fan of football in North America, you may roar with delight when your team makes a touchdown. The word originally referred to the moment in a rugby match when the ball is touched to the ground inside the goal. In football, a touchdown is scored when a player carries the ball into the opponent's end zone.

Definitions of touchdown

1. noun

   a score in American football; being in possession of the ball across the opponents' goal line
   type of:

   score

   the act of scoring in a game or sport
2. noun

   a landing (as the wheels touch the landing field); especially of airplanes
   type of:

   landing

   the act of coming down to the earth (or other surface)