Rugby

[ruhg-bee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR Rugby ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a city in E Warwickshire, in central England.

a boys' preparatory school located there: founded 1567.

Also rugby. Also called rugger, Rugby football. a form of football, played between two teams of 15 members each, that differs from soccer in freedom to carry the ball, block with the hands and arms, and tackle, and is characterized chiefly by continuous action and prohibition against the use of substitute players.

Origin of Rugby

probably earlier than 1835–40 for def 3

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rugby

soccer, rugby

Examples from the Web for rugby

Contemporary Examples of rugby

The royal couple then traveled on to the Welsh capital of Cardiff to watch a rugby match between Wales and Australia.
Kate Middleton, the Preggers Fashion Princess
Tom Sykes
November 14, 2014
The Haka, a traditional Maori dance, is best known as the pregame ritual of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team.
Cartoon Streetfights, Giant Mutant Spider Dogs, and More Viral Videos
Jack Holmes
September 7, 2014
French rugby players provided similar knowing delight in their Dieux du Stade calendars.
Prince Fielder’s Demi Moore Moment: World Loses It Over Athlete Without Six-Pack
Tim Teeman
July 10, 2014
She did not own a television, but went across the road to watch the rugby.
The Week in Death: Clarissa Dickson Wright, One of ‘Two Fat Ladies’
The Telegraph
March 22, 2014
The Duke visited privately in 2005 when he followed the British Lions' rugby tour.
Prince George To Accompany Will and Kate on Trip Down Under
Tom Sykes
December 20, 2013

Historical Examples of rugby

Courage educated into them at Eton or Rugby, in many a fight and 289 scuffle.
An Orkney Maid
Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
The great window over the arch is a striking feature of the Rugby gateway.
Tom Brown at Rugby
Thomas Hughes
No; Rugby football is not much appreciated by the 9th Brigade.
War Letters of a Public-School Boy
Paul Jones.
You know that he and I were at Rugby together, and then at Oxford?
Tom Gerrard
Louis Becke
Rugby and Swindon have quadrupled their population in the same time.
Lives of the Engineers
Samuel Smiles

British Dictionary definitions for rugby

rugby

rugby football

noun

Also called: rugger a form of football played with an oval ball in which the handling and carrying of the ball is permitted

Canadian another name for Canadian football

Word Origin for rugby

C19: named after the public school at Rugby, where it was first played

Rugby

noun

a town in central England, in E Warwickshire: famous public school, founded in 1567. Pop: 61 988 (2001)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rugby

type of football, 1864, after Rugby, public school where the game was played, from city of Rugby in Warwickshire, central England. The place name is Rocheberie (1086), probably "fortified place of a man called *Hroca;" with second element from Old English burh (dative byrig), replaced by 13c. with Old Norse -by "village" due to the influence of Danish settlers. Otherwise it might be *Rockbury today. Or first element perhaps is Old English hroc "rook." Rugby Union formed 1871. Slang rugger for "rugby" is from 1893.