/ muːtʃ; NAmE / verb ( informal )
1.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] ( BrE ) to walk slowly with no particular purpose; to be somewhere not doing very much
SYN potter :
He's happy to mooch around the house all day.
2.
mooch (sth) (off sb) ( NAmE ) to get money, food, etc. from sb else instead of paying for it yourself
SYN cadge :
[ v ]
He's always mooching off his friends.
[also vn ]
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (in the sense to hoard ): probably from Old French muchier ( Anglo-Norman muscher ) hide, skulk. Current senses date from the mid 19th cent.