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scrimp - 6 dictionary results

scrimp

  [skrimp]
Use scrimp in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to be sparing or frugal; economize (often fol. by on): They scrimped and saved for everything they have. He spends most of his money on clothes, and scrimps on food.
–verb (used with object)
2. to be sparing or restrictive of or in; limit severely: to scrimp food.
3. to keep on short allowance; provide sparingly for: to scrimp their elderly parents.
Origin:
1710–20; < Scand; cf. Sw skrympa, Norw, Dan skrumpe (orig. *skrimpa, strong v.) to shrivel, c. MHG schrimpfen to contract; see shrimp

Synonyms:
1. skimp, stint, save, scrape.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To scrimp
scrimp   (skrĭmp)   
v.   scrimped, scrimp·ing, scrimps

v.   intr.
To economize severely.
v.   tr.
  1. To be excessively sparing with or of.
  2. To cut or make too small or scanty.

[Perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish skrympa, to shrink.]
scrimp'er n., scrimp'i·ness n., scrimp'y adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Scrimp

Scrimp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scrimped (?; 215); p. pr. & vb. n. Scrimping.] [Cf. Dan. skrumpe, G. schrumpfen, D. krimpen. Cf. Shrimp, Shrine.] To make too small or short; to limit or straiten; to put on short allowance; to scant; to contract; to shorten; as, to scrimp the pattern of a coat.

Scrimp

Scrimp\, a. Short; scanty; curtailed.

Scrimp

Scrimp\, n. A pinching miser; a niggard. [U.S.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : scrimp
Spanish: hacer economías, escatimar,
German: knausern und sparen,
Japanese: けちけちする
More Translations »

scrimp 
"to make too small," 1774, originally an adj., "scant, meager" (1718), possibly from a Scand. source (cf. Swed. skrumpna "to shrink, shrivel up"), or from a continental Gmc. source akin to M.H.G. schrimpfen, Ger. schrumpfen "to shrivel" (cf. shrimp).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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