scrouge
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Etymology
Origin of scrouge
First recorded in 1820–30; blend of obsolete scruze (itself blend of screw and bruise ) and gouge
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"They'll keep comin' as long as a lean man can scrouge in."
From The Magnetic North by Robins, Elizabeth
De little chillun would scrouge around wid deir tin cups and dip into de pan for de bean, pea, or turnip pot liquor.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves South Carolina Narratives, Part 2 by Work Projects Administration
Then they would scrouge against each other like a couple of country schoolboys, to see who should get ahead.
From The Trail of the Goldseekers A Record of Travel in Prose and Verse by Garland, Hamlin
"You must take your nose away then," said Joel decidedly, "for I'm going to shut the door if you scrouge so."
From Five Little Peppers and their Friends by Sidney, Margaret
I says to Jim and Mr. Castle last week, 'I hain't a aimin' to let you scrouge up and burn up my terbaccer.'
From The Tobacco Tiller A Tale of the Kentucky Tobacco Fields by Hackley, Sarah Bell
‘Father, suppose you set on Highboy’s lap. I believe you be more comfortable than scrouged up here with us and all this furniture.’
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
He was scrouged up in a corner and his legs were trembling.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Henrietta scrouged down at my feet, and I fearingly, but accommodatingly, accepted the other twin.
From The Tinder-Box by Daviess, Maria Thompson
I s'pose maybe he is, but the po' little thing mus' feel sort o' scrouged with 'em, ef he's got 'em all—the Joneses' an' the Simses'.
From Sonny, a Christmas Guest by Stuart, Ruth McEnery
"I said I'd do it, if you scrouged and pushed, and I must," he answered, with the air of a man performing his duty.
From Five Little Peppers and their Friends by Sidney, Margaret
The pig followed it, scrouging under the fence, and squealing intermittently.
From The Corner House Girls at School by Owen, R. Emmett (Robert Emmett)
Though there were crowds all along the route followed by the wedding party, there was no scrouging, no shoving, no fighting, no disorderly scramble, no unseemly congestion about the chapel where the ceremony took place.
From Europe Revised by Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
"It seems to me, ma'am, that it is you who are scrouging me," Ralph replied.
From One of the 28th A Tale of Waterloo by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
She had become hardened to pushing and scrouging, so that the struggle to get a seat in one of the fifty or sixty race trains leaving Waterloo or Victoria left her comparatively calm.
From Mrs. Warren's Daughter A Story of the Woman's Movement by Johnston, Harry Hamilton, Sir
I paid my five dollars, and by pushing and scrouging I finally got my quart.
From "Co. Aytch" Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment or, A Side Show of the Big Show by Watkins, Sam R.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
