scrooge means the fictional character Ebenezer Scrooge.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, scrooge ranks #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,558 of 14,297 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #7,084 of 14,414 for Most Elegant Words, #7,102 of 14,448 for Funniest Words.
scrooge is pronounced /skɹuːd͡ʒ/.
Why “scrooge” is a great word
A person defined by miserly hoarding and an active hostility to seasonal generosity and joy. From the character Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' 1843 novel A Christmas Carol; the character's surname may have been inspired by the archaic English verb 'scrouge' or 'scroodge' (meaning 'to squeeze' or 'to press'). First generic use as a term for a miser attested by 1899. Unlike a 'miser,' who hoards wealth in private privation, or a 'curmudgeon,' whose sour temper is not necessarily pecuniary, a scrooge is defined by his public contempt for warmth, a pinch-fisted specter at the feast. He is the chill in a counting-house no fire can dispel, the metallic clink of a coin counted in a silent room, the turned shoulder to a caroler’s breath fogging the cold night air—a figure whose very name confesses the possibility of thaw, for the original learned to keep Christmas well.
Etymology
From the character Ebenezer Scrooge in the Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol.
name
- The fictional character Ebenezer Scrooge.
noun
- A miserly person; a person with an excessive dislike of spending money or other resources.
- A person who is grumpy about the Christmas holidays.
verb
- To behave in a greedy or miserly way.“Mr. Chairman, $6 million is 15 times more than what the President earns and 30 times more than what a Cabinet Secretary earns. The Christmas Eve announcement of these bonuses was greeted by one commentator by saying the taxpayers got scrooged.”
- To crush or press; to squeeze (past, into, together, etc.).“So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged, then he scrooged again[.]”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.