scooch

English

Alternative forms

scootch, skooch, skootch

Etymology

A variation of scouch. The verb sense "shift, scoot" is probably influenced by scoot. For the noun sense "a small amount", compare skoosh, skosh.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /skut͡ʃ/
Audio (southern England) (file)
Rhymes: -uːtʃ

Verb

scooch (third-person singular simple present scooches, present participle scooching, simple past and past participle scooched)

(US) To shift, move aside, or scoot over.
- 1992, Kevin Henkes, Words of Stone:
  "We could watch it all night," Joselle would add, scooching closer to her mother. "If it was on all night."
- 1998, George Ostrom, Shannon Ostrom, Nature
  Lying on your side, start rocking back and forth, scooching to and fro and kicking.
- 2002, Andrew Clements, A Week in the Woods:
  Turning over onto his back, he scooched down farther into his bag. It was the kind of sleeping bag with a hood built into it, so he pulled on the drawstring...
To crouch.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
  Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.

Translations

To shift, move aside, or scoot over

Russian: подвинуть (ru) (podvinutʹ)

Noun

scooch (plural scooches)

A small amount; a skosh.
Synonyms: skosh, skoosh
- 2008, Douglas Sarine; Kent Nichols, Ask a Ninja Presents The Ninja Handbook: This Book Looks Forward to Killing You Soon, Crown Archetype, →ISBN:
  Clan of the Papaya Whip Stymphalian Bird (just a scooch too long and would probably be better fit for a dessert at Bennigans), Pitchfork Shoebox Clan (maybe if you were a […] )
- 2018, Lillian Li, Number One Chinese Restaurant: A Novel, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, page 80:
  Strolling to the stereo, Ronny turned the volume dial a scooch to the left, looking at the chef with what Jimmy's father would've called a smack-me face. “Hurry it up.” Chef Alfred was tasting the stock. He rapped the spoon against the ...
- 2018, Jessalynn Keller; Maureen E. Ryan, Emergent Feminisms: Complicating a Postfeminist Media Culture, Routledge, →ISBN:
  “Just a scooch?” she adds in a higher-pitched voice pinching her fingers together to highlight a small imaginary space on a spectrum […]

Anagrams

chocos, hoccos