Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A play in Rugby in which the two sets of forwards mass together around the ball and, with their heads down, struggle to gain possession of the ball.
  • noun The mass or formation of players during such a play.
  • noun Chiefly British A disordered or confused situation involving a number of people.
  • intransitive verb To engage in a scrum.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A tightly-packed and disorderly crowd of people.
  • noun Canada Specifically used in the Canadian media to describe a tightly-packed group of reporters surrounding a member of the Canadian House of Commons while in the Parliament Buildings.
  • noun ​ (rugby) In rugby union or rugby league, all the forwards joined together in an organised way. Also known as a scrummage.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (rugby) the method of beginning play in which the forwards of each team crouch side by side with locked arms; play starts when the ball is thrown in between them and the two sides compete for possession

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for scrummage.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From "scrummage", from "scrimmage" (The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary of the English Language)

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Heave to. Rugger. Scrum in. No touch kicking. Wow, my tootsies! You hurt? Most amazingly sorry!"

    Joyce, Ulysses, 14

    January 27, 2007

  • mmmmmmm...scrumptious!

    March 17, 2007

  • a scrum of readings (theater)

    March 17, 2010