ooches

Verb

ooch (third-person singular simple present ooches, present participle ooching, simple past and past participle ooched)

1. (also, informal, reflexive, transitive) To move or slide (oneself or someone, or something) by a small amount.
   • I ooched my car forward. In Dallas, tailgaiting is an art. You have to protect your place in traffic, or some yahoo will sneak in before you. So you have to drive two inches away from the bumper in front of you.2001 June, Chloe Green [pseudonym; Suzanne Frank], chapter 1, in Designed to Die, New York, N.Y.: Kensington Books, →ISBN, page 3
2. (also, figuratively, informal, reflexive, transitive) To cause (oneself or someone, or something) to change or progress by a small amount or in small increments.
   • An oocher, according to the The Encyclopedia Erratica, is a motorist who persists in ooching his speed to 35-miles-an-hour in a 30-mile zone. He also is the guy who insists on ooching another drink after the bars close.1953, Buildings, volume 53, Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Stamats Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 29, column 1
3. (figuratively, informal, transitive) To force (someone or something) to move without noticeable disruption or opposition; to nudge.
   • There is one man I haven't mentioned, who quietly, without any ostentation at all, circulated among all the thousands of boys and girls, who had been "ooched" out of Johnsville when the guards were arrested, a fellow by the name of Rifkin.1943 October 26, Frederick Riebel, Jr., witness, “Testimony of Frederick Riebel, Jr., Ex-President, Brewster Aeronautical Corporation; Production Consultant, Material Group, Production Division...
4. (informal, intransitive) To move or slide by a small amount; to scooch, to scoot.
   • She didn't really pull away, just ooched over a little, leaving two or three inches between us—and I liked her better for it.1963, Ralph Moody, “Judy’s Story”, in The Dry Divide, New York, N.Y.: W[illiam] W[arder] Norton & Company, →OCLC, page 45
5. (informal, intransitive) To move around in a restricted or small space; to squeeze, to squirm.
   • I still got sand stuck between my toes. I can feel it ooching around down there.1983, P. J. Petersen, chapter 10, in The Boll Weevil Express […], New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →ISBN, page 117
6. (figuratively, informal, intransitive) To change or progress by a small amount or in small increments; to nudge.
   • I mean, come on, unemployment is down for 3 straight months, and that's a good thing. In fact, unemployment claims, even they ooched up a tiny bit now, are for the last 3 or 4 months at all-time lows, which is encouraging in terms of what it says about the fundamentals of this economy.1992 October 29, George Herbert Walker Bush, “Remarks to the South Wayne County Chamber of Commerce in Southgate, Michigan”, in Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, volume 28, number 44...

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