scrounge around


Forage about in an effort to obtain something at no cost, as in We scrounged around their kitchen looking for a snack. It derives from the dialectal scrunge, “steal.” [Colloquial; c. 1900]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.