scrimmage

plural scrimmages

1. A rough fight.

   get caught up in a scrimmage

   1 more example

   There was an instant of complete silence, but when Tough Bill threw himself on Strickland the lust of battle seized them all, and in a moment there was a confused scrimmage. Tables were overturned, glasses crashed to the ground.

   1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 47”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC

2. USathleticsIn some team sports, especially soccer, a practice game which does not count on a team's record.

   Merchandise sales surged. The spring scrimmage, usually a yawn of an afterthought at Colorado, was packed.

   2024 October 4, John Branch, “What Does College Football Have to Do With College?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

3. American footballIn American football or Canadian football, a play that begins with a snap from the center while opposing teams are on either side of a line of scrimmage.

present singular third person scrimmages · participle present scrimmaging · participle past scrimmaged · past scrimmaged

1. To have, or be involved in, a scrimmage.

   We scrimmaged a few times and then settled into boring drills.

   1 more example

   Elwood caught sight of a football field where some boys scrimmaged and yelped.

   2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 45