ruck

plural rucks

1. A throng or crowd of people or things; a mass, a pack.First known use 16th c.

   Dandolo was constantly in the ditch, sometimes lying with his side against the bank, and had now been so hustled and driven that, had he been on the other side, he would have had no breath left to carry his rider, even in the ruck of the hunt.

   1873, Anthony Trollope, Phineas Redux, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2014, Chapter 16

2. In Australian rules football
   1. A contest in games in which the ball is thrown or bounced in the air and two players from opposing teams attempt to give their team an advantage, typically by tapping the ball to a teammate.
   2. A player who competes in said contests; a ruckman or ruckwoman.
   3. archaicEither of a ruckman or a ruck rover, but not a rover.
   4. Any one of a ruckman, a ruck rover or a rover; a follower.
3. rugby unionThe 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.First known use 20th c.
4. The common mass of people or things; the ordinary ranks.First known use 19th c.

   ‘Here and there among cats one comes across an outstanding superior intellect, just as one does among the ruck of human beings [...].’

   1911, Saki, “Tobermory”, in The Chronicles of Clovis

5. colloquialAn argument or fight.

   Your worth as a couple is not down to how passionate your rucks are—I said rucks—and how frantic the making-up sex is.

   2023 January 28, Justin Myers, “62 dating green flags that shout ‘this one’s a keeper’”, in The Guardian

present singular third person rucks · participle present rucking · participle past rucked · past rucked

1. obsoletetransitiveTo act as a ruck in a stoppage in Australian rules football.
2. transitiverugby unionTo contest the possession of the ball in a ruck.

present singular third person rucks · participle present rucking · participle past rucked · past rucked

1. transitiveTo crease or fold.

   "What, exactly, happened down cellar?" Appleyard asked, straightening with his heel a rucked rug.

   1959, Peter De Vries, The Tents of Wickedness, page 28

   3 more examples

   Puzzle begged very hard to have the lion-skin taken off him. He said it was too hot and the way it was rucked up on his back was uncomfortable […]

   1956, C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle, Collins, 1998, Chapter 8

   She wore long dangling earrings faced with mirrors, and white Bermuda shorts rucked back to reveal knees and thighs like waxed maple.

   1989, Carol Shields, “Block Out”, in The Collected Stories, Random House Canada, 2004, page 299

   The army had a shooting range up there hidden in the chestnut forests, that was all; like a passing plane rucking the fabric of perfect silence, the shots brought all that shatters continuity in life, the violence of emotions, the trajectories of demands and contests of will.

   2003, Nadine Gordimer, “L,U, C, I, E.”, in Loot and Other Stories, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

2. intransitiveTo become creased or folded.

   "Will you come over now and try on your dress?" Ally asked, looking at her with wistful admiration. "I want to be sure the sleeves don't ruck up the same as they did yesterday."

   1917, Edith Wharton, chapter XII, in Summer […], New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 178

plural rucks

1. A crease, a wrinkle, a pucker, as on fabric.

present singular third person rucks · participle present rucking · participle past rucked · past rucked

1. UKdialectalobsoleteTo cower or huddle together; to squat; to sit, as a hen on eggs.

   Bot now thei rucken in here nest And resten as hem liketh best.

   c. 1386–1390, John Gower, edited by Reinhold Pauli, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy […], published 1857, →OCLC

   1 more example

   The Rauen rook'd her on the Chimnies top, And chatt'ring Pies in dismall Discords sung.

   c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi]

plural rucks

1. obsoleteObsolete form of roc.

   The Henry Royall [a ship], at her parting thence, / Like the Huge Ruck from Gillingham that flevv: […]

   1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “The Battaile of Agincourt”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC, page 14

plural rucks

1. especiallyslanggovernmentA rucksack; a large backpack.

   Rocky was only five foot six and skinny as a February coyote, but he could hump an eighty pound ruck across twenty mountain miles […]

   2015, Sean T. Smith, Wrath and Redemption, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Shah-e-Kot Valley, Afghanistan. March 2002. I strained to see over the soldiers in front of me. They were struggling to shuffle off the bird as quickly as they could. I dragged my ruck across the floor of the aircraft in my right hand.

   2007, Brandon Friedman, The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory, →ISBN, page 57

   First of all – a “ruck” is nothing more than a backpack. So to "ruck march" is to carry a heavy duty backpack on a hike (loaded with gear and supplies).

   2013 July 5, Brad McLeod, Top 10 Ruck Marching Tips, accessed 17 JUL 2015

present singular third person rucks · participle present rucking · participle past rucked · past rucked

1. To carry a backpack while hiking or marching.

   He started at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday as he began rucking to church. He changed his clothes, went to church and then began rucking again. That distance totaled about nine miles. Rucking is hiking with a military style backpack, filled with weight.

   2015 June 16, Brandon Cole, “Mount Vernon's Barnes to Compete in "Death Race"”, in the Posey County News, page 13

plural rucks

1. A small heifer.

plural Rucks

1. A surname from German.