skrimp

Verb

scrimp (third-person singular simple present scrimps, present participle scrimping, simple past and past participle scrimped)

1. (sometimes, transitive, with-on) To make too small or short; to shortchange.
   • to scrimp the pattern of a coat

   Synonyms:

   scant, contract, shorten, skimp

2. (transitive) To limit or straiten; to put on short allowance.
   • For, as a general thing, the English merchant-ship scrimps her crew; but not so the English whaler.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
3. (intransitive) To be frugal, whether to a reasonable and wise extent or to a miserly and unwise extent.
   • “Oh, Electra, jewel of women, darling of my heart, we are free at last, we roll in wealth, we need never scrimp again. It's a case for Veuve Cliquot!”1904, Mark Twain, The $30,000 Bequest

   Synonyms:

   skimp, scrape by

See all 5 meanings of scrimp