Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an argument, a fight, esp. a gang fight.

1833		J. Hall Soldier’s Bride 226: On the occasion of this ruckery that’s been kicked up, I do verbatimly think that there little man is not right in his head.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 10 July 3/4: Bob S. was right in the ruck friday night. The counter lunch king takes beating [...] even at the Town Hall .
1953		R. Garland Heart in Exile 247: I wasn’t going steady with her, but we used to go out. Only the day previous we had a ruck.
1967		N. Dunn Poor Cow 94: Once when I had a ruck with him, he got hold of this three quid and lit it with a match and on my life he burnt it.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 55: He spoke to the ceiling: ‘I had a ruck today.’.
1985		J. Sullivan ‘It’s Only Rock & Roll’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Their resident band the Dublin Bay Stormers had a bit of a ruck last weekend and they’re all banged up on remand!
1998		M. Newall ‘Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knyght’ in Indep. Weekend Rev. 26 Dec. 1: Blokes with a reppe, well-rayted in a rukke.
2001		Observer Mag. 1 July 54: We’ve had a couple of big rucks, usually about band material.
2004		(con. 1980) N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 222: The morning after my ruck with Joe Kennedy, I was awakened at seven.

2. in fig. use.

1993

M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 72: [of a rumour] Naturally Mickey Marlow had his name thrown into the ruck.