Scrimmaging

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Participating in a practice session or informal match often used to prepare for an official sports game
2. Taking part in a non-competitive or practice game situation to develop skills and teamwork
3. Playing in a rehearsal or friendly game intended to simulate real competition without formal scoring

Etymology: Scrimmaging comes from "scrimmage," which is a corruption of "skirmish." A skirmish was a brief, fighting engagement between small bodies of troops, and the word moved from the battlefield to the playing field in the same spirit: a short, loosely organised clash that does not decide anything important. The change from "skirm-" to "scrimm-" is the kind of sound shift that happens when a word is repeated often in everyday speech and gradually loses its original shape. Over time the sense softened. What began as a clash between soldiers became a general term for any rough or disorderly contest, and eventually for a practice match in which teams play against each other without the stakes of a real game. The meaning kept its core idea of two sides meeting in a brief, testing encounter, but the violence faded away. The verb form "scrimmaging" simply applies that sense to the act of taking part in such a practice session. Its link to "skirmish" is what gives it its edge: a word for fighting has become a word for training.

Synonyms: practicing, rehearsing, training