Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Irish) a fight.

1981		(con. 1920s) P. Crosbie Your Dinner’s Poured Out! 32: The only time we left everything and ran was when the cry went up: ‘Rucky up! Rucky up! Rucky up in Hentown!’ This always meant a fight between two men, and that was always worth watching.
1985		M. Johnston Around the Banks of Pimlico n.p.: As Saturday night wore on a carnival atmosphere was generated as the pubs filled up, the hooleys began and the ‘ruggy-ups’ erupted [BS].
1994		(con. 1920s) K.C. Kearns Dublin Tenement Life 42: They’d all drink in the pub [...] and they’d fall out and come in the street and fight there with hatchets and hammers and big sticks and they’d kill each other. On a Saturday night it’d be murder. Murder! You’d run around saying ‘ruggy-up! ruggy-up!’ and we’d all gather around. Always fighting ... it was great.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 15: They were best of all for a rucking.
1995		P. O’Keeffe Down Cobbled Streets, A Liberties Childhood 140: The sight of a police car or a lone bobby on a bicycle was enough to send us all racing for safety of our garden gates in case there was a rucky-up.

2. a severe reprimand.

1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 41: She’s late again I’ll have to give her a right rucking about that.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 207: He has not time to give his son a rucking.
1997		A. Frewin London Blues 38: A real battle-axe in her day. She used to give us kids such a rucking if she ever caught us getting up to no good.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 191: I’ve had him, Jimmy Price, on the phone givin me a ruckin, screamin.