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)

1. (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...

2. To crouch.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     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 — see also scoot over

• Russian: подвинуть (ru) (podvinutʹ)

Noun

scooch (plural scooches)

1. 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