scrimmage

A corruption of skirmish.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskɹɪmɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskɹɪməd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɪmɪd͡ʒ

scrimmage (plural scrimmages)

1. A rough fight.

   get caught up in a scrimmage

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

     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.

2. (US, athletics, soccer) In some team sports, especially soccer, a practice game which does not count on a team's record.
   • 2024 October 4, John Branch, “What Does College Football Have to Do With College?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

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

     (Can we archive this URL?)

3. (athletics, American football) In 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.

• See also Thesaurus:fight

scrimmage (third-person singular simple present scrimmages, present participle scrimmaging, simple past and past participle scrimmaged)

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

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

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

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