Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To crush or crunch.
  • intransitive verb To crumple or squeeze; hunch.
  • intransitive verb To hunch.
  • intransitive verb To move with or make a crunching sound.
  • noun A crunching sound.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To crush, as with the teeth; crunch; hence, to grind or keep down.
  • To squeeze; crush.
  • To crunch; make a crushing, crunching noise.
  • noun A harsh, crunching sound.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • To scranch; to crunch.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To crumple and squeeze to make more compact.
  • noun A crunching noise.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb sit on one's heels
  • verb make wrinkles or creases on a smooth surface; make a pressed, folded or wrinkled line in
  • verb make a noise typical of an engine lacking lubricants
  • noun a crunching noise

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably alteration of crunch.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

onomatopoeia, from the sound of crumpling a piece of paper

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Examples

  • I reckon you can refer to a staggered crunch as a 'scrunch', but what's the term for a semi-muffled scrunch?

    Archive 2009-02-01 Gordon McCabe 2009

  • "When you wear flip-flops, you kind of scrunch your toes to keep the flip-flop on your foot," Shroyer says.

    Flip-Flop Flaws 2008

  • Aspinall obeyed, and next moment was writhing under the "scrunch" which the president in his humour bestowed upon it.

    Follow My leader The Boys of Templeton Talbot Baines Reed 1872

  • It just goes to show, Williams said, that "if you dream really big dreams . . . and you just kind of scrunch up your eyes and work real hard and try to dream real hard, your dreams might just come true."

    Brian Williams honored by Monmouth University with communication award | APP.com | Asbury Park Press BY GRAELYN BRASHEAR 2010

  • Put some gel, or mouse or cream in. (rub it on your hands and scrunch your hair upwards from the ends) Look for something that is called scrunch gel, or curl definition, etc. (if you are on a budget I STRONGLY recommend Garnier.

    Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2009

  • a lovely "scrunch" sound when you squash a clove with the flat blade of a knife or chop it up.

    Thestar.com - Home Page 2010

  • a lovely "scrunch" sound when you squash a clove with the flat blade of a knife or chop it up.

    Thestar.com - Home Page 2010

  • I make a funny face and scrunch my nose when this sort thing goes on.

    Page 4 2009

  • I make a funny face and scrunch my nose when this sort thing goes on.

    Page 4 2009

  • I make a funny face and scrunch my nose when this sort thing goes on.

    Page 4 2009

Comments

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  • WeirdNet! I love you!

    August 20, 2008

  • But wait! According to the last definition, this could be a sound of any kind. Oh, how versatile!

    August 20, 2008

  • Just classic weirdnet.

    June 19, 2009

  • Does anyone else associate this word with the the great bumbling, boar-eating Obelix?

    July 25, 2009