scrounge
/skraʊn(d)ʒ
/informal
verb [with object]
1Seek to obtain (something, typically food or money) at the expense or through the generosity of others or by stealth: he had managed to scrounge a free meal we stopped scrounging for cigarettes [no object]: we didn’t scrounge off the social security...
- Like the queen, he doesn't carry cash, so the billionaire has to scrounge cab fare from colleagues.
- She expresses her desire to send him as much money as she can scrounge up.
- As a reviewer I don't get sent everything I ask for and so I scrounge quite a bit - but only for the films I really, really want.
Synonyms
beg, borrow
informal cadge, sponge, bum, touch someone for
British informal scab
Scottish informal sorn on someone for
North American informal mooch
Australian/New Zealand informal bludge
1.1 (often scrounge something up) North American Search for or obtain by searching.‘Yes, I was hoping you would scrounge something up for me,’ Anya grinned....
- As far as I know, the Sidearms were usually issued too officers, but enlisted men were able to scrounge them up easily enough.
- He scrounged them up in the Municipal Archives on Chambers Street in Manhattan, the address of which he has committed to memory.
noun [in singular]
An act of scrounging: we went for a scrounge...
- I will have a scrounge around today and see if I can find any more.
- I can have a scrounge around for you as I'm not going to bed but don't have anything really important to do at the moment.
- How can the mother get tax credits if she pays no tax as she's not working... that is a good scrounge.
Phrases
on the scrounge
Origin
Early 20th century: variant of dialect scrunge 'steal'.