scrunch

[skruhnch, skroo nch]

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verb (used with object)

to crunch, crush, or crumple.

to contract; squeeze together: I had to scrunch my shoulders to get through the door.

verb (used without object)

to squat or hunker (often followed by down).

noun

the act or sound of scrunching.

Origin of scrunch

First recorded in 1815–25; perhaps expressive variant of crunch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for scrunch

crunch, squeeze, rumple, compress, squash

Examples from the Web for scrunch

Contemporary Examples of scrunch

The goal should not be to terrify the bejesus out of the public, lest they scrunch their noses and give up.
Great Weekend Reads
The Daily Beast
February 12, 2011

Historical Examples of scrunch

She does not want to listen or talk, she only wants to scrunch betel, and grunt.
Things as They Are
Amy Wilson-Carmichael
"Scrunch 'em, sir," returned the other, setting his heel heavily on the floor.
The Cricket on the Hearth
Charles Dickens
She was roused by the scrunch of carriage wheels on the gravel drive.
The Green Carnation
Robert Smythe Hichens
There'd be one scrunch and then quite a long pause before the next.
IT and Other Stories
Gouverneur Morris
At last the scrunch of a boot on the wet road struck his ear.
The House with the Green Shutters
George Douglas Brown

British Dictionary definitions for scrunch

scrunch

verb

to crumple, crush, or crunch or to be crumpled, crushed, or crunched

noun

the act or sound of scrunching

Word Origin for scrunch

C19: variant of crunch

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

Word Origin and History for scrunch

1825, "to bite," intensive form of crunch (v.); ultimately imitative. Meaning "to squeeze" is recorded from 1835 (implied in scrunched). Related: Scrunching.