Shinney

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. An informal game resembling hockey, in which players strike a ball with curved sticks, often played on ice or open ground
2. A casual stick-and-ball game similar to hockey, played outdoors or on ice without formal teams or rules
3. A hockey-style pastime in which participants use bent sticks to drive a small ball toward goals on rough ground or ice

Etymology: Shinny is a informal name for a rough, freewheeling form of hockey played with a ball or puck and sticks, often on the street or on ice with few rules. Its name comes from "shindy," a noisy brawl or rowdy party, and the link is physical: the game involves so much hacking at ground-level objects that players were constantly banging their shins. The noisy rough-and-tumble sense of "shindy" carried over into the name of the game itself. The usual way to write the word is "shinny," with a single "n" before the "y," though the spelling "shinney" is also seen. The name reflects a game where the sport's chaos was the defining feature rather than any formal rule set.