I. ˈskrənch, -u̇- verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: alteration (perhaps influenced by squeeze ) of crunch (I)
transitive verb
1. : crunch , crush
a young fox … scrunching the insects up hungrily as he unearthed them — Gerald Durrell
dropped her half-smoked cigarette to the floor, scrunched it out with a precise toe — Boyce Eakin
2.
a. also scroonch -u̇- : to squeeze together : make into a compact mass : contract , hunch
scrunched his eyebrows down again — A.J.Liebling
b. : crumple , rumple
scrunch a paper plate and throw it on the fire
don't scrunch my dress — Lillian Smith
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to make a crunching sound
walked on tiptoe … in order that the pebbles might not scrunch under my feet — Dwight MacDonald
b. : to move with a crunching sound
ice scrunched along the vessel's sides — Frank Hurley
2. also scroonch : crouch , squeeze
scrunched behind the boxwood hedge and reconnoitered — Al Hine
we scrunched together like bulls in a horse trailer — A.J.Liebling
my bigger brothers had to scrunch down to pass for under six — Mary McCarthy
II. noun
( -es )
: a crunching sound
a scrunch of wheels on the gravel outside — Agatha Christie