scrum

[skruhm]

noun

a Rugby play in which, typically, three members of each team line up opposite one another with a group of two and a group of three players behind them, making an eight-person, three-two-three formation on each side; the ball is then rolled between the opposing front lines, the players of which stand with arms around a teammate's waist, meeting the opponent shoulder to shoulder, and attempt to kick the ball backward to a teammate.

British. a place or situation of confusion and racket; hubbub.

verb (used without object), scrummed, scrum·ming.

to engage in a scrum.

Also scrummage (for defs 1, 3).

Origin of scrum

First recorded in 1885–90; short for scrummage

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

Examples from the Web for scrum

Contemporary Examples of scrum

Another result was a line of TV news trucks and a scrum of photographers outside the funeral as the church filled to overflowing.
The Gentle Giant Cut Down by Cops
Michael Daly
July 24, 2014
As the game ended, tension between the two sides boiled over into a scrum of stick swinging, pushing, and punching.
A Millennium After Inventing the Game, the Iroquois Are Lacrosse’s New Superpower
Evin Demirel
July 21, 2014
In the scrum of reporters backstage after the show, someone asked Mulleavy whether the collection had a “Vegas connection.”
Rodarte’s Ode to Los Angeles
Isabel Wilkinson
September 10, 2013
Three or four of us huddled around him, almost a scrum, hanging on his every word.
The Night Princess Diana Died
Christopher Dickey
August 31, 2013
Anyone who does not want to talk to reporters knows to skip a walk through the scrum.
Lies Anthony Weiner Told Me
Patricia Murphy
July 31, 2013

Historical Examples of scrum

She's a little creature who went down in the scrum and has been kicked about ever since.
Windows (Fifth Series Plays)
John Galsworthy
I suppose I can count for one in the scrum, said the stranger.
The Message
Louis Tracy
“They were so jolly heavy in the scrum,” said Maurice, one of the forwards.
The Gold Bat
P. G. Wodehouse
The referee blew his whistle for a scrum, and a certain try was lost.
The Gold Bat
P. G. Wodehouse
The scrum had formed by now, and further conversation was impossible.
The White Feather
P. G. Wodehouse

British Dictionary definitions for scrum

scrum

noun

rugby the act or method of restarting play after an infringement when the two opposing packs of forwards group together with heads down and arms interlocked and push to gain ground while the scrum half throws the ball in and the hookers attempt to scoop it out to their own team. A scrum is usually called by the referee (set scrum) but may be formed spontaneously (loose scrum)

informal a disorderly struggle

verb scrums, scrumming or scrummed

(intr usually foll by down) rugby to form a scrum

Word Origin for scrum

C19: shortened from scrummage

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 scrum

1888, abbreviation of scrummage, a variant form of scrimmage (n.). Transferred sense of "noisy throng" is from 1950.