Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To be very frugal and sparing.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Scanty; narrow; deficient; contracted.
- noun A niggard; a pinching miser.
- To pinch or scant; limit closely; be sparing in the food, clothes, money, etc., of; deal sparingly with; straiten.
- To be sparing in; narrow, straiten, stint, or contract, especially through a niggard or sparing use or allowance of something; make too small, short, or scanty; limit: as, to
scrimp a coat, or the cloth for making it. - To be parsimonious or miserly: as, to save and scrimp.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Short; scanty; curtailed.
- transitive verb To make too small or short; to limit or straiten; to put on short allowance; to scant; to contract; to shorten.
- noun U.S. A pinching miser; a niggard.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A pinching
miser ; aniggard . - verb transitive To make too
small orshort ; to scant; tocontract ; to shorten. - verb transitive To
limit or straiten; to put onshort allowance . - verb intransitive To be
frugal . - adjective Short; scanty; curtailed.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb subsist on a meager allowance
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Another are where they scrimp is on the safety and training of their own personnel.
Boing Boing: September 24, 2006 - September 30, 2006 Archives 2006
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"The one place we will never scrimp is life and death areas like the State Police," Daniels said. "
Putting Your Safety Second Cass Dems 2005
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"The one place we will never scrimp is life and death areas like the State Police," Daniels said. "
Archive 2005-09-01 Cass Dems 2005
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Theresa May today pledged not to "scrimp" on Olympic security, insisting every precaution necessary will be taken to protect the public during the
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Many would argue that if medical insurance doesn't cover primary and preventive care, then people will "scrimp" on these and just not partake.
U.S. News 2009
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"scrimp" on anything, they'll have tens of thousands of fans to answer to.
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I say "largely" because campaigns found ways to scrimp and save by renting cars across the state line, a minor dodge which seems quite quaint in today's post-Citizens United decision milieu of anything goes spending.
William Bradley: Iowa Then and Now William Bradley 2011
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I say "largely" because campaigns found ways to scrimp and save by renting cars across the state line, a minor dodge which seems quite quaint in today's post-Citizens United decision milieu of anything goes spending.
William Bradley: Iowa Then and Now William Bradley 2011
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“You know maybe—just maybe—if we scrimp and save all those taxes we've been paying, we'll be able to afford a vacation home some day.”
Tax Tips From Tila Tequila, Professional Bisexual Con Chapman 2011
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Others raised concerns that an investor-rental strategy would leave neighborhoods worse off if investors scrimp on property maintenance.
Housing Plan Gets a Mixed Response Nick Timiraos 2011
missanthropist commented on the word scrimp
Southern/urban devolution of 'shrimp'.
April 20, 2009