Scrouge

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To crowd or press tightly into a small, confined space ; a dense throng of people packed closely together
2. To squeeze or jam oneself or others into a cramped area ; a tight crush of people pressed together in one place
3. Pressing closely together in a cramped space ; a crowded, compressed gathering of people squeezed into little room

Etymology: "Scrouge" is a word most readers will not recognise, and its origin is genuinely unsettled. The only firm lead is a possible link to "shrug", the verb for lifting the shoulders and drawing them in, which suggests a physical gesture of pressing or squeezing tight. Whether that connection holds is unproven, so the word's ancestry remains a question rather than a settled story.