to scrunch up
1
4.1
- phrasal verb
- /skrʌnʧ ʌp/
- Informal
:
arrugar
- He scrunches up the old, torn picture, pops it in a dustbin, and heads off.
- scrunched up face
- scrunched up her nose
Get the Forte series sea salt spray, spray it on, scrunch it up one more time and let it dry.
- Get the Forte series sea salt spray, spray it on, scrunch it up one more time and let it dry.
- Next we're going to wet a nice wig under the sink and take some redkin Hairspray, scrunch up the hair with a nice crunchy effect, blow dry it with a GHD iron.
Examples
-
Get the Forte series sea salt spray, spray it on, scrunch it up one more time and let it dry.
-
Helen scrunched the letter up and threw it across the room.
Fiction book (1998) -
Billy scrunched up newspaper, soaked it in meths, and scrubbed every window in the house.
Academic text (2007) -
So for this, all you need is some tin foil and you'll want to scrunch up a big bowl of tin foil and then place that in between the tongs that you use for barbecuing.
-
She scrunched up the paper and tossed it into the trash can.
-
To make the salad easier to mix, scrunch up the lettuce into smaller pieces.
-
After the meeting, he scrunched up the notes he had taken and discarded them.
Synonyms
56
2.1
To make a small fold in cloth, paper, or skin
48
3.5
To fold something so it takes less space
29
3.4
Get folded and wrinkled when pressed, like paper or cloth
24
3.2
To press something until it becomes flat or out of shape
12
3.7
Form small lines on paper, skin, or cloth
9
5.5
Squeeze something until it becomes wrinkled or folded
4
7.5
To squash something so it becomes flat or changes shape
4
7.9
To press something so it becomes flat or misshapen
1
9.6
To form wrinkles or folds in cloth
1
4.2
To make a smooth surface uneven or wrinkled
To become wrinkled and folded into small ridges
To make small folds in cloth by pressing or gathering it
To press people or things together so they fit in a small space
Antonyms
How Wrinkled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core verb 'scrunch' already means to press or crush so something becomes wrinkled, and the particle 'up' here adds a sense of completion/intensification (make into a compact/wrinkled state). This V + up construction is a productive, compositional pattern in English (and has parallels in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reliably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Scrunch up comes from the image of scrunch, to squeeze or crush, and up, to make small. It is like crumpling a piece of paper or squeezing your face until it is wrinkled, so it means 'to squeeze or make wrinkled'.