I. ˈskrau̇nj verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: alteration of English dialect scrunge to wander about idly
transitive verb
1.
a. : to collect by foraging : round up : find , salvage
scrounge wood from bombed-out areas — A.W.Bromage
— often used with up
manpower might be summoned … and feed material scrounged up — R.E.Lapp
b. : to acquire by other expedient means (as by borrowing, stealing, or swapping)
got a shave and a haircut from a fellow prisoner who had scrounged a pair of clippers somewhere — E.J.Kahn
had to scrounge water from the engine for their tea — Jack Wadsworth
2. : to obtain by persuasion : cadge , wheedle
the more money they can scrounge out of local communities, the more projects they can build — New Republic
3. chiefly dialect : scrouge
a number of his colleagues … are scrounged down into two columns under the cartoon — A.J.Liebling
intransitive verb
1. : to make a search : poke around : forage , hunt
scrounged for food in a burned field — Look
— often used with around
scrounge around and persuade someone to run off mimeographed copies for you — Infantry Journal
not ashamed to scrounge around at night, picking up useful things — Richard Harrington
2. : wheedle
on relief and scrounging for more of the city's money than they were entitled to — Harrison Smith
II. noun
( -s )
1. : material acquired by scrounging
decided to improve our surroundings with scrounge from neighboring houses — Infantry Journal
2. : an act of scrounging