scurry

See also: Scurry

English

Alternative forms

• skurry (dated)

Etymology

Perhaps from hurry-skurry, a reduplication of hurry.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌɹ.i/
• (US):
  • (without the hurry–furry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌɹ.i/
  • (hurry–furry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈskɜɹ.i/

    • Audio (US, hurry–furry merger):

      (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɹi
• Hyphenation: scur‧ry

Verb

scurry (third-person singular simple present scurries, present participle scurrying, simple past and past participle scurried)

1. To run with quick light steps, to scamper.
   • 2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     Shakespeare has gone back to the formula of last season, by encouraging his players to press high up the pitch and restoring Shinji Okazaki to the starting XI to scurry around between midfield and attack.

   • 1964, William Golding, Lord of the Flies:

     Then the piglet tore loose from the creepers and scurried into the undergrowth.

Synonyms

• (run with quick light steps): scamper
• (do things quickly): hurry, zoom; see also Thesaurus:rush

Derived terms

• ascurry
• scurry away
• scurry off

Translations

to run away with quick light steps

• Bulgarian: тичам (bg) (tičam), припкам (bg) (pripkam)
• Dutch: snellen (nl), hollen (nl)
• Esperanto: krabli
• Finnish: kipittää (fi), vipeltää (fi)
• French: détaler (fr), se sauver (fr)
• Galician: fuxir (gl)
• German: hasten (de), huschen (de), vorbeihuschen
• Hungarian: iszkol (hu), iramodik (hu), inal (hu), oson (hu), surran (hu), siet (hu), szalad (hu), rohan (hu)
• Irish: sciurd, scinn
• Italian: fuggire (it), scappare (it), svignarsela
• Macedonian: тр́чка (tŕčka), при́пка (prípka)
• Maori: karapetapeta, tuoma
• Polish: mknąć (pl)
• Russian: мча́ться (ru) (mčátʹsja), нести́сь (ru) (nestísʹ)
• Spanish: corretear (es)
• Swedish: kila (sv)
• Turkish: seğirtmek (tr), acele etmek, hızla kaçmak (tr), koşmak (tr), koşturmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: поспішати (pospišaty), мчатися (mčatysja), метушитися (metušytysja)

Noun

scurry (plural scurries)

1. A dash.
   • 1845, Sporting Magazine, volume 5, page 25:

     Found a fox in Deerstone, and after a great deal of music, and a scurry or two round the wood, went away over Whigford Down, but he was too far before them to make any more quick music […]