scrooch

American  

[skrooch] / skrutʃ /

Or scrootch

verb (used without object)

Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S.

1. to crouch, squeeze, or huddle (usually followed by down, in, orup ).

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scrooch British  

/ skruːtʃ /

verb

1. dialect to scratch (the skin) to relieve itching

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Etymology

Origin of scrooch

1835–45; apparently variant of scrouge, influenced in meaning by crouch

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scrooch

Before I could see what would happen next, Mister Shepherd pulled me back from the aisle and had me scrooch down under a bench.

From Great Jehoshaphat and Gully Dirt! by Jewell Ellen Smith

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

From The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me by William Allen White

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.

From Southern Lights and Shadows by William Dean Howells

“I don’t believe it,” sez he; “nobody loves to scrooch down flat with their legs under ’em numb as sticks.”

From Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife by Marietta Holley

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.

From The Galaxy Vol. 23, No. 1 by Various

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