Wiktionary
n. (context rugby and American football English) A pass in the forward direction, advancing toward the goal, generally illegal except in American football, once per play, from behind the line of scrimmage.
WordNet
n. a pass to a receiver downfield from the passer [syn: aerial]
Wikipedia
In several forms of football a forward pass is a throwing of the ball in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridiron football ( American football and Canadian football) in which the play is legal and widespread, and rugby football ( union and league) from which the North American games evolved, in which the play is illegal.
In some football codes, such as association football (soccer), the kicked forward pass is used so ubiquitously that it is not thought of as a distinct kind of play at all. In these sports, the concept of offside is used to regulate who can be in front of the play or be nearest to the goal. However, this has not always been the case. Some earlier incarnations of football allowed unlimited forward passing, while others had strict offside rules similar to rugby.
The development of the forward pass in American football shows how the game has evolved from its rugby roots into the distinctive game it is today. Illegal and experimental forward passes had been attempted as early as 1876, but the first legal forward pass in American football took place in 1906, after a change in rules. Another change in rules occurred on January 18, 1951, which established that no center, tackle, or guard could receive a forward pass. Today, the only linemen who can receive a forward pass are the ends. Current rules regulate who may throw and who may receive a forward pass, and under what circumstances, as well as how the defensive team may try to prevent a pass from being completed. The primary pass thrower is the quarterback, and statistical analysis is used to determine a quarterback's success rate at passing in various situations, as well as a team's overall success at the "passing game."
Forward Pass (March 28, 1965 – December 1, 1980) was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who is the only horse in the history of the Kentucky Derby to have been declared the winner as the result of a disqualification.
Usage examples of "forward pass".
They went to Oxford on scholarship and joined the rugby team and one day they introduced the forward pass.
When he had a few beers in a saloon, he grumbled about what the damnyankee innovation of the forward pass had done to the great game of football.
Had they made the return pass the same way as the forward pass, drifting through time, activating nothing, they might have escaped the ghost unscathed.
Without pausing, she handed off the baby like a forward pass and waddled into the kitchen.