eighthman
eighthman noun: one of the forwards at the rear of a scrum formation who controls the ball at the back of the scrum and links to the back line.
Noun
eighthman (plural eighthmen)
- One of the forwards at the rear of a scrum formation who controls the ball at the back of the scrum and links to the back line.
- Border's captain Basil Kenyon, at eighthman, again impressed with his intelligent positional play, and general leadership - as he had done in the shock win earlier in the tour.1974, Frederick Willem Jacobus Labuschagne, Good-bye Newlands, farewell Eden Park, page 94
- Table VI I A, which is read horizontally, shows that concussion and ligament injuries are commonest among eighthmen and fullbacks; that muscle injuries and fractures are fairly evenly distributed across all playing positions; that internal injuries are most frequent among scrum-halves, but are also...1987, South African Medical Journal - Volume 71, page 311
- Synonyms:
- number eight
Examples of eighthman in a sentence
- Du Plessis was shifted from eighthman to flank for the second test and then was dropped altogether, although he fared better than most.2003, Andy Colquhoun, Paul Dobson, The Chosen: The 50 Greatest Springboks of All Time, page 136:
- The ball moved to the eighthman; he waited for it to come out.2004, Pat Stevens, Politics Is the Greatest Game: A Johannesburg Liberal Lampoon, →ISBN:
Synonyms of eighthman
Forms of eighthman
| plural | eighthmen |
|---|---|
| alternative form | eighth-man |
| alternative form | eighth man |
Origin of eighthman
From eighth + man, from the fact that this position is the rearmost of the eight forward positions.
Questions about eighthman
- What does eighthman mean?
- Eighthman means one of the forwards at the rear of a scrum formation who controls the ball at the back of the scrum and links to the back line.
- How do you use eighthman in a sentence?
- Du Plessis was shifted from eighthman to flank for the second test and then was dropped altogether, although he fared better than most.
- What part of speech is eighthman?
- Eighthman is a noun.
- What is the plural of eighthman?
- The plural of eighthman is eighthmen.
Words near eighthman in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: eighthman (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “eighthman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/eighthman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.