Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To hunch down or move in a crouching position.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To crouch, or hunker down.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration (perhaps influenced by crouch) of scrooge, scrouge, to squeeze, crowd.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word scrooch.

Examples

  • When they put out a hand to feel her condition she would "scrooch" down her back, or bend this way or that, as if the hand were a branding-iron.

    Birds and Poets : with Other Papers John Burroughs 1879

  • You scrooch down on the floor between them, and we'll pile our suit-cases around you.

    Poor Little Eddie 1916

  • "The battle's on now, to a finish," muttered Fran despondently, "yet here I sit, and here I scrooch."

    Fran 1913

  • To duck, you scrooch down, and shrink in, to get as much as possible of your body under the eaves of your steel helmet.

    The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me William Allen White 1906

  • Bimeby, Brer Wolf scrooch up en shiver, en 'low: --

    Nights With Uncle Remus Joel Chandler Harris 1878

  • I seem to remember scrooch guns, but I’m not sure if that was the same series. chrisbcritter says:

    Friday Comics Ads: Stays Crunchy in Milk – The Bleat. 2009

  • "Do ye think, Sandy, that ye could scrooch out o 'bed an' hump yerself over to them?

    The Primrose Ring Ruth Sawyer 1925

  • "Now, Bud," Mr. Cullum said, when the bag was set on the edge of the gully, with its mouth towards the prairie, "you jest scrooch down behind this here sack an 'hold the candle.

    Southern Lights and Shadows William Dean Howells 1878

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Should come in handy in active shooter situations :-/

    August 17, 2022