scrummage

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskɹʌm.ɪdʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmɪdʒ

scrummage (plural scrummages)

1. (rugby) An ordered formation of forwards, typically bending down, binding to one another with their arms, and pushing opponents shoulder to shoulder, in which each side aims to gain control of the ball; a scrum.

   Synonym: scrum

2. (American football, rare) A scrimmage.
3. Dated form of scrimmage (“a rough fight”).
   • 1835, John Pendleton Kennedy, Horse Shoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendency:

     How would you like a scrummage, Andy, with them Scotchmen that stole your mother's chickens this morning?

scrummage (third-person singular simple present scrummages, present participle scrummaging, simple past and past participle scrummaged)

1. (rugby) To engage in an ordered formation of forwards in which each side aims to gain control of the ball, as described above.