15

If someone wins a match, that person is called a winner.

If someone loses a match, that person is called a loser or runner up.

But if the match is a draw, that is, no one has won or lost, what do you call them then?

19
  • 2
    Can you provide more context and example sentence where the word would be used? Contrast English Premier League and UEFA Champions League, Even if the match is tied, one team can be a loser under the Champions League knock out system. Questions on choosing an ideal word or phrase must include information on how it will be used in order to be answered. For help writing a good word or phrase request, see: About single word requests
    – user140086
    Dec 21, 2015 at 9:57
  • 2
    It comes under no category, because there is no category. We, as a society, have not come up with a dedicated label for "all the people who've neither won nor lost", just like we have not come up with a dedicated label for "all the people who have neither killed nor been killed", or "all the dogs who have neither two nor zero tails", or "all the colors that are neither red nor violet", or "all the numbers that are neither zero nor infinity", or "all the notes that are neither A nor G". These are no useful concepts to us, and so we don't use them, and so we don't have labels for them.
    – RegDwigнt
    Dec 21, 2015 at 14:32
  • 7
    @RegDwigнt That's odd because in British English they are called simply drawers as can be seen from any website about the football pools. In the football pools people bet on which matches are going to be draws. So they both have a use for it and a name for those teams too. Dec 21, 2015 at 15:28
  • 1
    @RegDwigнt - Why have you put on hold? The stated reason is that it needs information on how it will be used. It is very clear that the OP is looking for a [blank] category; this close reason therefore makes no sense. Your comment suggests you think it is a bad question because there is no answer, which to my mind is a valid reason for a downvote, not for putting on hold (and certainly not for the stated reason).
    – AndyT
    Dec 21, 2015 at 16:30
  • 2
    @Rathony Context is only needed to make the question clear. This question is clear enough because enough context is provided by comparison and example sentences. I don't think that that view of this question is treating it on a par with other questions. Dec 21, 2015 at 22:46

6 Answers 6

8

There are doubtless, contrary to many comments here, actually several potential answers to this question. However, I only know of one. People who are not winners or losers because they draw are very often called drawers. You may not find a definition of this word in everyday dictionaries because it is formed from a freely productive suffix -er added to the base, the verb draw. Dictionaries - apart from very large ones - cannot afford to include such definitions in their lists because the number of entries would explode.

The football pools in the UK allow people to bet on matches where the punter thinks the teams may draw. Such teams are regularly referred to as DRAWERS. However, the term is much more widely used as can be seen from these quotes:

  • He analyzed the beliefs of voters in pre-election polls about the “winner,” “loser,” or “drawer” of the debate.

  • Conference Paper: Tactical Metrics distinguishing winners, drawers and losers in UEFA Euro 2012

  • Discriminant analysis based on the factor values leads to a correct classification of 64.8% identifying winners, losers and drawers.

  • Is dating really a competition wherby every action leads to winners losers and drawers?

  • Sunderland are the Premier League's master 0-0 drawers this season with five already

There are doubtless more widely used terms out there. I just don't know them. [But I'm not so dumb that I think that because I haven't come across something it doesn't exist ... Harrumph]

5
  • 3
    +1 because this is obviously in use in the places you cited, but FWIW it would be as jarring as "dead-heaters" if I saw it.
    – Lynn
    Dec 21, 2015 at 23:42
  • 4
    Drawers are either the things you put your socks in or the things you put your butt in. I wonder if it's common in general British English, or mostly just in football circles?
    – Yee-Lum
    Dec 22, 2015 at 0:01
  • 2
    The quotes (well, the ones that pass for parseable English, anyway) quite nicely demonstrate the issue here: the authors had to make sure people understand what the heck they're talking about by putting drawer in the context of winner and loser. Remove the latter two and the sentences become funny to impenetrable. I can say "I'm a winner, baby", and I can say "I'm a loser, baby", but saying "I'm a drawer" will get me in a mental institution. Likewise for "He analyzed the beliefs of voters about drawers" or "Discriminant analysis leads to a correct classification of drawers".
    – RegDwigнt
    Dec 22, 2015 at 14:48
  • One doesn't have to be dumb in order to be under a false impression. As much as I like "drawer" as a (potentially) excellent answer, I don't think your last sentence is constructive criticism.
    – Færd
    Dec 23, 2015 at 10:12
  • 3
    @Fard Memebers shouldn't categorically state that something doesn't exist because they don't happen to be able to think of it. This question was unilaterally closed because someone knew that it was obvious that no such word existed. Dec 23, 2015 at 10:21
4

The noun dead-heater was used for horse racing in the past. It appears to be listed in the OED, which defines it as: one who runs a dead heat.

  1. ...the horse shall be regarded as having been last in the race, and the other horses shall take positions accordingly, ... is made to one of the dead-heaters, and sustained, the remaining dead-heater shall be deemed (??) to have won the race.
  2. The owner of a dead-heater wins half a race, and it is surely obvious that the backer should win half his bet,...

  3. This race is open to both national and imported three-year-olds, and thus gives a good idea of who is really the best of this age ... runner-up in the Derby in the previous year, and dead-heater with Giuglio in the Gran Premio Nacional

Source: Google Books

Otherwise the OP is pretty much forced to use the verbs; tie, or draw

e.g. The following week a playoff game was played, and the two teams tied, 5 to 5.

2
  • My +1 is a backhanded compliment. I think this is the best of existing words, but I think (at least in AmE, outside of horse racing) that this would be a jarring term.
    – Mitch
    Dec 21, 2015 at 22:26
  • Also, deadlocked.
    – Mazura
    Dec 27, 2015 at 1:33
3

Insofar as a 'draw' is a 'tie', the agent-noun is 'tier':

  1. One who ties with another in a match or competition.

["tier, n.2". OED Online. December 2015. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/201863?rskey=ZmVF4i&result=2&isAdvanced=false (accessed December 21, 2015).]

Also in TFD:

  1. tier - any one of two or more competitors who tie one another.

[tier. (n.d.) WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. (2003-2008). Retrieved December 21 2015 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tier .]

This is often the case when "no one has won or lost" (OP, emphasis mine). The emphasis on one might seem to be a quibble, but is not. Depending on the contest, those who tie may all be considered winners or losers.

A few forms of 'draw' exist, and the specific term for those who draw depends on which form of draw is obtained. For example, one form of draw is a 'stalemate', wherein the contest cannot continue without breaking the rules. Chess is notable for the stalemate form of draw, but other forms of draw in chess exist: draw by repetition, draw by the fifty-move rule, agreed-on draw. As pointed out in another answer, those who draw by stalemate may be called 'stalematers', but they are equally 'tiers'.

Notably, neither the OED Online nor TFD give 'drawer' in the sense of 'one who draws in a contest'. The term is undoubtedly used with that sense colloquially.

1
  • 1
    Ah, tier was the first thing that came to my mind and then I checked OED as well :)
    – ermanen
    Dec 23, 2015 at 16:42
2

Depending on context, you might get away with stalematers. It's a little awkward, but would be understood. It's hard to construct a word using either of the roots tie or draw because the final vowels sounds make suffixes sounds very awkward.

After a draw, then stalematers are advanced to a tie-breaking match.

0

Equal Second is a term recently used in a surfing competition interrupted by a shark attack. (Be patient; the link does not come up instantly.)

After discussion with WSL Commissioner Kieren Perrow, Fanning and competitor Julian Wilson decided to take equal second in rankings points and split the prize purse awarded to the winner.

See also Wikipedia

It is not always possible to assign rankings uniquely. For example, in a race or competition two (or more) entrants might tie for a place in the ranking. When computing an ordinal measurement, two (or more) of the quantities being ranked might measure equal. In these cases, one of the strategies shown below for assigning the rankings may be adopted.

The article describes in more detail than I can summarize several strategies and nomenclatures for tied rankings. Equal Second is defined in the Wikipedia article in the way it was used in the surfing example.

Never underestimate the capability of sports for precise, if arcane, terminology.

-4

In American English, there is no single word that captures this concept.

The concept you are looking for is name for a 'player' (people//team/entity) after the end of a game that ended in a draw.

A player can win a game or lose a game, but there is no verb '*The player drew the game'.

'Draw' is used only to describe the game itself, and doesn't apply to the players.

So to describe the situation, you can always just label the games themselves that a player participated in. For player X that played game Y, the game Y was a draw. So you can capture the information, you just can't fill out that parallel slot in English.

At least this is the case in American English. The one logical construction would be 'drawers' in AmE means either those things you slide out of a chest that you put clothes in or pants.

6
  • @Rathony I don't think Q this is POB because it is just attempting to fill a lexical gap 'dog:puppy, cat:kitten, whale:???' Pretty unopinionated. Also you should upvote all of this simply for my sparkling leger-de-mot.
    – Mitch
    Dec 21, 2015 at 19:27
  • 2
    Hmmm. Are you saying that two teams cant' draw in modern, for example twentieth century, English? Dec 21, 2015 at 23:09
  • @Araucaria I don't know if one could infer that from what I said, but I didn't mean that. You can say the game was a draw and teams X and Y came to a draw but I don't see 'draw' as a verb.
    – Mitch
    Dec 22, 2015 at 1:32
  • The players can tie a game. (But tier/tyer is not a word that means what the OP wants. Dec 22, 2015 at 2:17
  • Good edit. Apparently your down voters speak British. Combined with RegD's "It comes under no category" comment, this would be a fine answer, as they both point out the fact that some words used to describe a situation can't be used to describe people. Especially when that situation is nominal; the word's unlikely to exist.
    – Mazura
    Dec 22, 2015 at 2:33

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.