scrimp

verb /skɹɪmp/

1. To make too small or short; to shortchange.

   transitive

   to scrimp the pattern of a coat

2. To limit or straiten; to put on short allowance.

   transitive

   For, as a general thing, the English merchant-ship scrimps her crew; but not so the English whaler.

3. To be frugal, whether to a reasonable and wise extent or to a miserly and unwise extent.

   intransitive

   “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!”

Where it comes from

From Scots scrimp (“meager”), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German schrimpen (“to shrivel up, wrinkle”), from Old Dutch *scrimpan, from Frankish *skrimpan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skrimpaną (“to shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”), related to Old English sċrimman (“to shrink”) and sċrincan (“to shrivel up”). Doublet of shrink, shrimp, and shrim.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry scrimp (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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