scuffling

Verb (1)

scuffle (third-person singular simple present scuffles, present participle scuffling, simple past and past participle scuffled)

1. (intransitive) To fight or struggle confusedly at close quarters.
   • Certainly a gallant man had rather fight to great diſadvantages for number and place in the field in an orderly way, then ſcuffle with an undiſciplined rabble.1648, attributed to Charles I of England, Εἰκὼν Βασιλική [Eikōn Basilikē = Royal Portrait]. The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Maiestie, in His Solitvdes and Svfferings, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 15
2. (intransitive) To walk with a shuffling gait.
   • But shiftings and readjustments ensued, as they are sure to do with a walking-party. Cope presently found himself scuffling through the thin grass and the briery thickets alongside the young business-man.1919, Henry B[lake] Fuller, “Cope at His House Party”, in Bertram Cope’s Year: A Novel, Chicago, Ill.: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, →OCLC, page 94
3. (slang) To make a living with difficulty, getting by on a low income, to struggle financially.
   • Once a good friend of mine, a fine hoofer who was having trouble getting bookings, ran up to that tree, gave it a big smack, and yelled “Lawd please make me a pimp, any kind of a pimp, long as I’m pimpin’. I’m tired of scufflin’ and my feet are too long outa work.”1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Tell a Green Man Something”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 3 (1928–1935: The Big Apple), page 208

Verb (2)

scuffle (third-person singular simple present scuffles, present participle scuffling, simple past and past participle scuffled)

1. To work the soil surface for weeding, etc.
   • Near-synonyms: (sometimes synonymous) scarify, cultivate, grub; weed

   Synonyms:

   scarify, cultivate, grub, weed

See all 8 meanings of scuffle