ground game

ground game (countable and uncountable, plural ground games)

1. (Britain, law, uncountable) Rabbits and hares
   • 1880, Ground Game Act‎:

     1. Every occupier of land shall have, as incident to and inseparable from his occupation of the land, the right to kill and take ground game thereon, concurrently with any other person who may be entitled to kill and take ground game on the same land.

2. (martial arts) Hand-to-hand combat in which both fighters are on the ground, or skill in such combat
   • 2007, September 8, “Scott Sherman & Gerald Harris”, in Scott's UFC 75 picks‎:

     He didn't show a lot of ground game in that fight, but his advantage was on the feet, so that's understandable.

3. (golf) Putting; hitting the ball along the ground
   • 1999, Harvey Penick & Bud Shrake, The Game for a Lifetime‎, →ISBN, page 34:

     Most golf courses built in the 1980s went away from the old-fashioned ground game and forced players to hit the ball high.

4. (American football, countable) Running with the ball, rather than passing
   • 1988, November 26, “Mal Florence”, in They Take Case to Polls Today USC-Notre Dame Game Could Settle Score for No. 1‎, page Sports 3:

     Notre Dame, with its option-type quarterback, Tony Rice, is committed to the ground game.

5. (US, politics, countable) Local political organization
   • 1988, August 8, “Paul Taylor”, in Texans Say Bentsen on Ticket Rejuvenates State's Democrats‎, page A1:

     While the Democratic "ground game" in Texas seems unusually strong, so is the Republicans'.

• ground game on Wikipedia.Wikipedia