rugby

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌɡbi/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rug‧by

From the name of Rugby School in Rugby, in Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom, where the modern game was developed in the 19th century.^[1] The place name Rugby is attested in the Domesday Book as Old English Rocheberie (probably equivalent to rook (“Corvus frugilegus, a bird of the crow family”) +‎ -by (suffix indicating a village or town)), possibly from *Hrōcebyriġ, dative singular of *Hrōceburh, from hrōc (“rook”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to crow”)) + burh, burg (“castle, fort, stronghold; city; town”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“hill, mountain; high, lofty; to rise”)).

rugby (countable and uncountable, plural rugbies)

1. (usually uncountable, sports)
   1. A form of football in which players can hold or kick an ovoid ball; rugby football. The ball cannot be handled forwards and points are scored by touching the ball to the ground in the area past the opponent's territory or by kicking the ball between goalposts and over a crossbar.

      Synonym: rugger

      The scrum is a distinctive element of rugby.

      The two rugbies split following a debate about amateurism.

   2. (specifically) The form of the game known as rugby union (see the usage note).
2. (countable) Ellipsis of rugby shirt (“a shirt of the kind worn by rugby players, usually short-sleeved and with a buttoned opening at the neck like a polo shirt, but with a stiffer collar”).
   • 2003, B. Lawson Thornton, Misery Loves Company: The Diary of Kerri Mitchell, East River Press, →ISBN:

     I don't know why, but for some reason people who work undercover for department store security always wear rugbies and khakis.

   • 2007, Adam Mansbach, Angry Black White Boy: , Crown, →ISBN, page 69:

     Jansports and cargo pants were everywhere, set off with overstated polos, rugbies, and sweatshirts blaring the logos of hip hop designers.

   • 2015, Tony Jackson, From the Streets to the Sheets, Page Publishing, →ISBN:

     I bought three jogging suits, a pair of Polo sneakers, and two rugbies.

The word rugby when used without any modifying word is commonly used to refer specifically to the game of rugby union – for example, the Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament. Referring to rugby league simply as rugby is less common, except in countries where that is the predominant version of rugby football played.

A major difference between rugby and football (association football or soccer) is that in the latter sport players apart from the goalkeeper are not permitted to handle the ball.

• Rugby (archaic)

• American rules rugby, Harvard rules football (obsolete) (evolved into American football)
• Canadian rules rugby (obsolete) (evolved into Canadian football)
• rugby league, league
• rugby union, RU, union
• rugby sevens, rugby 7s
• rugby tens, rugby 10s, ten-a-side rugby, 10-a-side rugby, ten-a-side, 10-a-side
• rugby fifteens, rugby 15s

rugby (third-person singular simple present rugbies, present participle rugbying, simple past and past participle rugbied)

1. (intransitive) To play rugby.

• American football
• association football
• Canadian football
• football
• rugby football
• Category:en:Rugby

Genericized trademark from Rugby, a brand of rubber cement by Bostik.

rugby (plural rugbys)

1. (Philippines) Rubber cement, contact cement; commonly associated with solvent abuse, as it is often used as an inhalant.

• rugby football on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• rugby league on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• rugby union on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• rugby (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Unadapted borrowing from English rugby.

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

• Audio:

  (file)

rugby (uncountable)

1. (sports) rugby

From Rugby, (a brand of rubber cement by Bostik).

rugby

1. rubber cement, contact cement

• rugby boy

Borrowed from English rugby.

rugby

1. the sport of rugby

• ragby

Borrowed from English rugby (sport).

• IPA^(key):

• Audio (Czech Republic):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rug‧by

rugby n (indeclinable)

1. rugby
   • 2006, Luboš Jeřábek, transl., Fotbal – velký lexikon‎, Praha: Grada Publishing, translation of Fussball-Lexikon by Bernd Rohr and Günter Simon, →ISBN, page 10:

     Ve škole v Rugby zakládá W. W. Ellis hru rugby (zvanou také rugbyfotbal, na rozdíl od pozdějšího asociačního fotbalu), při které je dovoleno hrát i rukama.

     W. W. Ellis invents a game called rugby (or rugby football, in contrast to later founded association football), in which it is allowed to play with hands, at a school in Rugby.

• “rugby”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “rugby”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

rugby

Wikipedia ^nl

Borrowed from English rugby.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrʏx.bi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rug‧by

rugby n (uncountable)

1. rugby (sport)

• rugbybal
• rugbyspeler

From English rugby.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɑɡbi/,
• IPA^(key): /ˈruɡby/,
• Rhymes: -ɑɡbi
• Hyphenation^(key): rug‧by

rugby

1. (sports) rugby

• “rugby”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

French Wikipedia has an article on:

rugby

Wikipedia ^fr

English rugby.

• IPA^(key): /ʁyɡ.bi/

• Audio:

  (file)

rugby m (uncountable)

1. rugby (sport)

• rugby à sept
• rugby à quinze
• rugby à treize
• rugbyman
• rugbywoman

• → Russian: ре́гби (régbi) (see there for further descendants)

• “rugby”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

rugby

Wikipedia ^it

Unadapted borrowing from English rugby. For the /ɛ/ compare club.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɛɡ.bi/, /ˈraɡ.bi/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɛɡbi, -aɡbi

rugby m (invariable)

1. rugby (form of football)

• rugby in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

rugby

Wikipedia ^pl

Unadapted borrowing from English rugby.

• IPA^(key): /ˈraɡ.bɘ/, /ˈruɡ.bɘ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɡbɘ, -uɡbɘ
• Syllabification: rug‧by

rugby n (indeclinable)

1. (sports) rugby (sport where players can hold or kick an ovoid ball)

• rugby in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• rugby in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• râguebi, rúgbi

Unadapted borrowing from English rugby.

rugby m (uncountable)

1. (proscribed) rugby

   Synonyms: (Portugal) râguebi, (Brazil) rúgbi

• “rugby”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

• rugbi (rare)

Unadapted borrowing from English rugby.

• IPA^(key): /ˈraɡbi/
  • Rhymes: -aɡbi
• IPA^(key): /ˈruɡbi/
  • Rhymes: -uɡbi
• Syllabification: rug‧by

rugby m (plural rugbys)

1. rugby

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “rugby”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10