line of scrimmage

noun phrase

: an imaginary line in football that is parallel to the goal lines and tangent to the nose of the ball laid on the ground and marks the position of the ball at the start of each down

Examples of line of scrimmage in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Jackson is at his best attacking those type of passes near the line of scrimmage. — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Oct. 2026

Grant manages to wrestle Bengals running back Chase Brown to the ground behind the line of scrimmage, immediately gets up and lets out a scream that seemingly been trapped inside for months. — Miami Herald, 15 Oct. 2026

Daniels went to the line of scrimmage with around 20 seconds remaining and snapped the ball with 12 to go. — ABC News, 12 Oct. 2026

In the fourth quarter against Detroit, Young faked a handoff to Chuba Hubbard, moved laterally to his left and then toward the line of scrimmage before hitting Mitch Evans running an over route for 8 yards. — Jonathan Jones, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1909, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for line of scrimmage

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Kids Definition

line of scrimmage

: an imaginary line in football parallel to the goal lines and running through the place the ball is laid before each play begins