▪ I. ˈrugger1 Obs. exc. arch.
[f. rug v.1 2 b.]
A plunderer, depredator, robber.
| 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xxi. 3 Ruggars, Reifars, Rome⁓raikars. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 130 Manifest ruggers and reiuers on the Sey. 1860 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) 99 note, The lawless propensities of the ruggers and rievers of that wild district. |
▪ II. ˈrugger2
Slang or colloquial alteration of Rugby (in the sense of ‘Rugby football’). Freq. attrib. rugger-tackle v. trans. = tackle v. 5 (a).
| 1893 Westm. Gaz. 17 Oct. 5/3 W. Neilson was elected captain of ‘rugger’ and T. N. Perkins of ‘socker’. 1895 19th Cent. Nov. 865 He would find that a ‘Rugger’ blue commanded vastly more admiration. 1914 ‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions ix. 64 They earned their ‘Rugger’ colours together as scrum and stand-off halves. 1927 Granta 14 Oct. 9/1 He has had to be content with four years and a captaincy in the Magdalene Rugger side. 1929 Mercury Story Bk. 162 ‘Rubbish’ I heard an eupeptic Rugger man protesting. 1930 R. Campbell Poems 10 Nor at his Rugger-Match is Squire more gay. 1937 F. Smythe Camp Six v. 65 The football was also very popular and Nursang did his best to form the Sherpas into a rugger scrum. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 137/1 The same contrast may be seen between the rugger crowd and the soccer crowd. 1955 Times 3 Aug. 7/4 Gradually strength and energy returned, and in two days the Sherpas produced the expedition rugger ball. 1967 D. Pinner Ritual xii. 119 He rugger-tackled the policeman. 1973 D. Lees Rape of Quiet Town vii. 111 It was all in the spirit of a rugger club frolic. |