Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to squeeze up, to push against.

1891		T.B. Reed Cock House Fellsgarth : ‘Cot and Lick [...] lammed it pretty hard; but Ram and I were just scrunching them up’.
1905		L. Pound ‘Dialect Speech in Nebraska’ DN III:i 64: scrooch, v. (1) Huddle, crowd; (2) encroach in mean or petty fashion.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 701: Scrooching down on me like that all the time with his big hipbones hes heavy too.
1925		G.H. Mullin Adventures of a Scholar Tramp 287: But me like a damn fool scrooches down on a side stirrup to hide.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 68: I scroonched through the window and dove head-first out into the night.
1967		H. Ellison Would You Do It for a Penny? in Shatterday (1982) 89: Arlo scrunched closer, tried for a kiss.
1979		D. Gram Foxes (1980) 6: She scrunched into her lair.
1990		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 7: scrooch – snuggle.

2. to tense or contort one’s body or a part of it, also as vi. (see cite 2018).

1887		E. Custer Tenting on the Plains (rev. edn 1895) 182: He [Autie] had to have a tooth drawn [...] The forceps slipped off, and he [dentist] had to make a second trial. He pulled it out, and Autie never even scrunched.
1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 47: I scrooched up my eyes because I didn’t want any tears to fall out.
1976		(con. 1942) J. Lee Ninth Man 216: She [...] scrooched up her knees.
1991		B. Quinn Smokey Hollow 39: ‘Crash,’ Joe would mutter and Mr Toner would scrunch his lips.
2018		E. Acevedo Poet X 229: My mother’s face scrunches tight / like someone has vacuumed all her joy.
2024		D. Rucker Life’s Too Short 84: The guy scrunches his forehead and nods.

3. to crouch.

1912		R.W. Brown ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ DN III:viii 588: scrooch, v. To crouch. ‘You scrooch down there, now.’.
1943		H.A. Smith Life in a Putty Knife Factory (1948) 169: Does he want them to sneak up the alley? Or scrooch down the street underneath an old bathtub?
1977		W.D. Myers Mojo and the Russians 27: I was scrinching down because I’m tall for my age.
1978		W.D. Myers It Ain’t All for Nothin 95: [H]e was scrunched up in the corner.

4. (US black) to cuddle, to have sexual intercourse.

1938

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 15 Oct. 21: Lawd! let’s get together and skrontch.