Lineout

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A method in rugby where play resumes by throwing the ball back into the field from the sideline
2. The action of restarting a rugby match by tossing the ball into play from the touchline
3. A rugby game procedure involving the ball being thrown in from the side to continue play

Etymology: "Lineout" is a compound formed from the nouns "line" and "out," and it is a rugby coinage rather than an ancient term. Its basic logic is literal: when the ball goes over the touchline, the two teams line up in parallel rows along the sideline, and a player throws the ball back in between them. The surprising part is that the term describes the formation itself, not the throw, and it names both the act of lining up and the play that follows. The compound pattern is an ordinary English one, with "out" acting as a particle in the same way as in "walkout" or "sellout." The word is attested in rugby writing from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, but its exact first appearance is uncertain, so the precise date is best checked against a dictionary's dated citations.

Synonyms: line-out, throw-in, restart