scuffle
n. countablen. a short, noisy fight between two or more people. It is usually not a serious or organized fight, but more of a quick struggle.
n. a brief, noisy struggle or fight, typically involving physical contact but lacking the formal structure of a duel. Often used in journalistic or legal contexts to describe minor altercations.
The two men had a quick scuffle over the last seat.
A minor scuffle broke out in the crowd after the referee made a controversial decision in the final minute.
Witnesses reported a brief scuffle near the entrance before the suspects fled the scene in a silver sedan, leaving behind a trail of broken glass and a damaged security camera.
Possibly of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin; compare Swedish skuff (“a push”) and skuffa (“to push”), from the Proto-Germanic base skuf- (skuƀ), from Proto-Indo-European skewbʰ-, see also Lithuanian skùbti (“to hurry”), Polish skubać (“to pluck”), Albanian humb (“to lose”).
The noun is a borrowing from Dutch schoffel; the English verb arose via subsequent verbification within English but is also parallel with Dutch schoffelen.