scrimp
to be sparing or frugal; economize (often followed by on): They scrimped and saved for everything they have. He spends most of his money on clothes, and scrimps on food.
to be sparing or restrictive of or in; limit severely: to scrimp food.
to keep on short allowance; provide sparingly for: to scrimp their elderly parents.
Origin of scrimp
1Other words for scrimp
Other words from scrimp
- un·scrimped, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use scrimp in a sentence
The company scrimped and saved, and the wife of one manager helped out with the accounting books.
Who Should Kill? Looking for Answers in Erik Prince’s Memoir | Brian Castner | November 22, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTNot only have I toiled and saved and scrimped away my girlhood as you bade me, but I've earned for you.
The Story Of Waitstill Baxter | By Kate Douglas WigginThey put together all their money, saved and scrimped, ate little and worked hard, until they got enough to go home.
Our Little Hungarian Cousin | Mary F. Nixon-RouletHe'd scrimped his wife, and he'd half-starved her, and some said he'd beat her, but I never knew how that was.
Mrs. Tree's Will | Laura E. RichardsHe knows by instinct where money should be spent, and where it should be scrimped.
The Story of an Untold Love | Paul Leicester Ford
For though Aunt Jimmy had scrimped herself in many ways, she was too good a business woman to let her property get out of repair.
Aunt Jimmy's Will | Mabel Osgood Wright
British Dictionary definitions for scrimp
/ (skrɪmp) /
(when intr, sometimes foll by on) to be very economical or sparing in the use (of) (esp in the phrase scrimp and save)
(tr) to treat meanly: he is scrimping his children
(tr) to cut too small
a less common word for scant
Origin of scrimp
1Derived forms of scrimp
- scrimpy, adjective
- scrimpily, adverb
- scrimpiness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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