different between scurry vs slouch

English

Etymology

Perhaps from hurry-skurry, a reduplication of hurry.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sk??r(?)
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sk??i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): (with the "Hurry-furry" merger) /?sk??i/
• Rhymes: -?ri
• 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.
   • 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

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 […]

English

Etymology

From Middle English slugge, from Old Norse slókr (“a slouching, lazy fellow”), cognate to Swedish sloka (“to wilt, slouch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sla?t??/
• Rhymes: -a?t?

Noun

slouch (plural slouches)

1. A hanging down of the head; a drooping posture; a limp appearance

   He sat with an unenthusiastic slouch.

2. Any depression or hanging down, as of a hat brim.

   The plant hung in a permanent slouch.

3. Someone who is slow to act.
   • 2014, Ian Jack, "Is this the end of Britishness", The Guardian, 16 September 2014:

     In any case, Scotland has been no slouch at national invention. The Greek temple to commemorate James Thomson wasn’t the only monument raised by the 11th Earl of Buchan, who was a friend and neighbour of Walter Scott, and as great a romancer in his obsession with ruins, battlements and fancy dress.

4. (dated) An awkward, heavy, clownish fellow.

Derived terms

• slouch hat

Translations

Verb

slouch (third-person singular simple present slouches, present participle slouching, simple past and past participle slouched)

1. (intransitive) To hang or droop; to adopt a limp posture

   Do not slouch when playing a flute.

2. (intransitive) To walk in a clumsy, lazy manner.

   I slouched to the fridge to see if there was anything to eat.

3. (transitive) To cause to hang down or droop; to depress.
   • 1896, Duncan Campbell Scott, In the Village of Viger (page 107)

     […] then he slouched his head down on the table and pretended to sleep.

   • 2012, Kim Vogel Sawyer, When Hope Blossoms (page 281)

     Disappointment slouched him into the pew.

References