ruck

Etymology 1

From Middle English ruke, from Old Norse. Compare Icelandic hrúka, Swedish ruka.

noun

1. A throng or crowd of people or things; a mass, a pack.
   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 2014-08-11, 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. (now rare) Either 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 union) The 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.
4. The common mass of people or things; the ordinary ranks.
   ‘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. (colloquial) An 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. 2023-01-28, Justin Myers, “62 dating green flags that shout ‘this one’s a keeper’”, in The Guardian

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To act as a ruck in a stoppage in Australian rules football.
2. (transitive, rugby union) To contest the possession of the ball in a ruck.

Etymology 2

1780, from Old Norse hrukka (“wrinkle, crease”), from Proto-Germanic *hrunkijō, *hrunkitō (“fold, wrinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Akin to Icelandic hrukka (“wrinkle, crease, ruck”), Old High German runza (“fold, wrinkle, crease”), German Runzel (“wrinkle”), Middle Dutch ronse (“frown”). More at frounce. Possibly related to Irish roc.

verb

1. (transitive) To crease or fold.
   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
   "What, exactly, happened down cellar?" Appleyard asked, straightening with his heel a rucked rug. 1959, Peter De Vries, The Tents of Wickedness, page 28
   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. (intransitive) To become creased or folded.

noun

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

Etymology 3

Compare Danish ruge (“to brood, to hatch”).

verb

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To cower or huddle together; to squat; to sit, as a hen on eggs.

Etymology 4

noun

1. Obsolete form of roc.

Etymology 5

Clipping of rucksack.

noun

1. (slang, especially military) A rucksack; a large backpack.
   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, 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). July 5, 2013, Brad McLeod, Top 10 Ruck Marching Tips, accessed 17 JUL 2015
   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

verb

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

Etymology 6

noun

1. A small heifer.