rootch

English

Etymology

See rutch.

Verb

rootch (third-person singular simple present rootches, present participle rootching, simple past and past participle rootched)

1. Alternative form of rutch (“slide”)
   • 1928, The Medical World, volumes 46-47, page 169:

     "Do you shuss or rootch here?" asks the patient. "We rootch here," says the chief operating room nurse. The patient rootched herself over on to the operating table. Patient says to nurse, "You must make sure that I'm asleep before they operate."

   • 2006, Roger Alan Skipper, Tear Down the Mountain: An Appalachian Love Story, →ISBN:

     He rootched the chair around like they were still watching TV, then turned it right back. George wore the expression he saved for barn rats and chicken hawks. Janet tried to herd the conversation in another direction.

   • 2012, Honor Molloy, Smarty Girl: Dublin Savage, page 95:

     It's all things good and wishes answered. What story will he tell her? What lie? When Olly snakes out from under the bed, his tartan bathrobe rootches up over his gaunt ribs, revealing ghastly scars. Her Weeshy Boy. So singular, so funny.

2. Alternative form of rutch (“squirm, move around”)
   • 1945, Zelda Popkin, The Journey Home: A Novel, Canada: Pocket Books:

     "You must fight it all ofer the world. You must fight it right here, in your home. Your own Ku Klux Klan —" He broke off, his face working so that he could not continue. The Marine looked down at his fingers, rootched on the seat in discomfort.

3. (US, informal, especially Pennsylvania) To root or rummage around (in search of something).
   • 1870, American Educational Monthly, page 332:

     Our model house-keeper minded closely her own business, never moving about or rootching around in what did not concern her. She was an other-guess character — an other-guess sort of person, as Goldsmith would have said.

   • 2018, Elizabeth Willey, A Sorcerer and a Gentleman, Gateway, →ISBN:

     Dewar, one-handed still, rootched in the bag slung at his hip and found the jemmy bar.

Anagrams

• chroot, cohort, trocho-