derby

noun

der·by | \ ˈdər-bē

, especially British ˈdä-\

plural derbies

Definition of derby

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : any of several horse races held annually and usually restricted to three-year-olds

2 : a race or contest open to all comers or to a specified category of contestants bicycle derby

3 British : a game between local sports teams … even when both clubs were going through trophy droughts, the derby was still treated like a European Cup final by the fans. — Manchester Evening News

4 : a man's stiff felt hat with dome-shaped crown and narrow brim

Derby

geographical name

Der·by | \ ˈdär-bē

, chiefly U.S. ˈdər-\

Definition of Derby (Entry 2 of 2)

city on the Derwent River in Derbyshire, north central England population 252,000

Examples of derby in a Sentence

Noun

a derby between Manchester United and Manchester City

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

On social media, the roller-derby cheerleaders are mocked—their manliness, fashion sense and dance skills questioned. — Nina Adam, WSJ, "Female Roller Derby Skaters Are Fearless—So Are Their Male Cheerleaders," 7 Dec. 2018 But an important, less quantifiable component of the Heisman derby takes place during the offseason. — Chris Johnson, SI.com, "The Most Intriguing Dark Horses of the Offseason Heisman Hype Machine," 17 May 2018 As Earhart would point out, the women still did better than the men had in their derby the previous year; of the nine men’s planes that took off from New York, only one reached Los Angeles. — Elizabeth Winkler, WSJ, "‘Fly Girls’ Review: Freedom of the Air," 9 Aug. 2018 The notion of the derby as a detriment began with former Phillies outfielder Bobby Abreu. — Scott Lauber, Philly.com, "Phillies' Rhys Hoskins unconcerned about Home Run Derby impacting his swing," 12 July 2018 Finalists will be rewarded with the chance to take more swings Monday night at the MLB home run derby. — J.c. Carnahan, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Hagerty’s Riley Greene swinging for fence in high school home run derby," 14 July 2018 Maybe the Hawks are out of the Karlsson derby because of the likely $11 million a year cost for eight seasons. — Steve Rosenbloom, chicagotribune.com, "Kicking around the idea of the Blackhawks trading for Erik Karlsson," 5 July 2018 Privacy - Terms Baseball America's JJ Cooper shared video of Matias' last home run in his round: Lexington's Seuly Matias hit 10 home runs in one round of the home run derby. — Pete Grathoff, kansascity, "Watch Royals' minor-league star Seuly Matias take part in Class A Home Run Derby," 20 June 2018 Using average points totals of City and Utd per game and assuming same rate of points accumulation from now on, City win the title ... at the derby. — SI.com, "Current Average Points Totals Give Startling Revelation About Manchester Derby Title Possibility," 1 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'derby.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.