Meanings
present singular third person scrounges · participle present scrounging · participle past scrounged · past scrounged
- ambitransitiveTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean.
scrounge for food
5 more examples
Now you don't seem so proud about having to be scrounging your next meal.
1965, Bob Dylan, “Like a Rolling Stone”Laura snatches coins from inside a truck to make a telephone call, scrounges shoes and clothes for them at a municipal beach, schemes to get a room key so she and Howie can sleep overnight in the Starlight Motel, steals a Jeepster from a deputy sheriff who's trying to arrest them.
1987 November 8, Ron Hansen, “CHILDREN'S BOOKS; DISCOVERING THE OPPOSITE SEX”, in The New York TimesFor example, the PC may have been caught slipping unobtrusively into a restaurant or pub on his ground to scrounge […] a drink or a meal.
1995, Verbatim, volume 22, number 3, page 13The booty bandits, who craved sex with the weaker inmates, and the merchants, rich with scrounged or stolen items who kept safe through an uncanny craft to barter anything, followed.
2000, Rob Taft, Leaders of the City, page 23When I was a young soldier, and had not yet acquired the tobacco vice (which began with scrounging cigarettes at routemarch halts when everyone else lit up and I felt left out) I used to win cross-country races.
2009, George MacDonald Fraser, The Complete McAuslan, →ISBN
plural scrounges
- Someone who scrounges; a scrounger.
- An act of scrounging; a trip taken for the purpose of scrounging.
"Still, it's not much good sending you two off on a medical supplies scrounge. What about food and general stores? Suit you?"
1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 107
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
1915, alteration of dialectal scrunge ("to search stealthily, rummage, pilfer") (1909), of uncertain origin, perhaps from dialectal scringe ("to pry about"); or perhaps related to scrouge, scrooge ("push, jostle") (1755, also Cockney slang for "a crowd"), probably suggestive of screw, squeeze. Popularized by the military in World War I.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian отмъквам, задигам
- отмъквам (otmăkvam)To obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
- задигам (zadigam)To obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
Dutch schooien, bij elkaar scharrelen
- schooienTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- bij elkaar scharrelenTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- bietsenTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
- achterover drukkenTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
Finnish pummata
- pummataTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
French glaner, quémander
- glanerTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- quémanderTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
- profiterTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
German abstauben, klauben
- abstaubenTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- klaubenTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- stibitzenTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- schnorrenTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
Italian battere cassa, scroccare
- battere cassaTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- scroccareTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
Māori pītoto, pati
- pītotoTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- patiTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
- whakapatiTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
- pīnonoTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
- kaimātaiTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
- pītotoTo obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
Russian собирать, выпра́шивать
- собирать (sobiratʹ)To hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- выпра́шивать (vyprášivatʹ)To obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
- выцыга́нивать (vycygánivatʹ)To obtain something of moderate or inconsequential value from another
Turkish aşırmak, otlakçılık etmek
- aşırmakTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- otlakçılık etmekTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
- yürütmekTo hunt about, especially for something of nominal value; to scavenge or glean
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with scrounge
All rhymes →Cite this entry
scrounge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrounge
“scrounge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrounge. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scrounge,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrounge.
Source: scrounge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.