ruck

Meanings

Noun

• A throng or crowd of people or things; a mass, a pack.
• The situation formed when a player carrying the ball is brought to the ground and one or more members of each side are engaged above the ball, trying to win possession of it; a loose scrum.
• The common mass of people or things; the ordinary ranks.
• A crease, a wrinkle, a pucker, as on fabric.
• A rucksack; a large backpack.
• A small heifer.

Verb

• To act as a ruck in a stoppage in Australian rules football.
• To contest the possession of the ball in a ruck.
• To crease or fold.
• To become folded.
• To cower or huddle together; to squat; to sit, as a hen on eggs.
• To carry a backpack while hiking or marching.

Origin

• From Middle English ruke, from Old Norse. Compare Icelandic hrúka, Swedish ruka.
• 1780, from Old Norse hrukka ("wrinkle, crease"), from Proto-Germanic *hrunkijō, *hrunkitō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ("to turn, bend"). Akin to Icelandic hrukka ("wrinkle, crease, ruck"), Old High German runza ("fold, wrinkle, crease"), German Runzel ("wrinkle"), Middle Dutch ronse ("frown"). More at frounce. Possibly related to Irish roc.
• Compare Danish ruge ("to brood, to hatch").