Out of bounds

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Out of bounds" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In sports, out of bounds (or out-of-bounds) refers to being outside the playing boundaries of the field. The legality of going out of bounds (intentionally or not), and the ease of prevention, vary by sport. Sports that use this term include American football, Canadian football, field lacrosse, basketball, rugby union, rugby league, and association football.

The boundary may be associated with the sidelines or touch-lines, lines which mark the outer boundaries of a sports field, running parallel to each other and perpendicular to the goal lines.^[1] The foul lines in baseball and boundary lines in cricket are similar concepts.