subs. (colloquial).—Two or more persons associated for some purpose: e.g., a football side, a cricket eleven, a coach’s pupils, etc. [Properly of animals harnessed together.] Hence TEAM-WORK = work in company.
1622. MASSINGER, The Virgin Martyr, iv. 2. Harp. Hear me, my little TEAM of villains, hear me.
1852. BRISTED, Five Years in an English University, 191. A mathematical tutor can drive a much larger TEAM than a classical.
1885. Echo, 7 Sept. The football season in the North and Midlands is in full swing, and it is therefore little matter for wonder that the country TEAMS bear away the laurels every year from the metropolis.
