THE FIRST WORD

ruck

PRONUNCIATION:

(ruk) 

MEANING:

noun: 1. A large mass, especially of ordinary people or things. 2. A crease or wrinkle.
verb tr., intr.: To make a crease or to become creased.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old Norse hrukka (wrinkle, fold). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sker- (to turn or bend), which is also the source of ranch, rank, shrink, circle, circa, crisp, corolla, search, ring, curb, ridge, curve, corolla, and coronary. Earliest documented use: 1225.

USAGE:

"Any genuine pilgrim would have to fight his way past a ruck of tourists to get close to such an object."
Keith Miller; St Peter's; Profile Books; 2010.

"She ran across the room and tripped on the rucked carpet under the bed."
Liz Ryan; Sometimes a Rogue; Hodder & Stoughton; 1997.