mooch

det

1. Pronunciation spelling of much

noun

Etymology: Clipping of Scaramucci.

1. Synonym of Scaramucci (“unit of time”).

   “If we take Scaramucci’s 10-day figure to be the standard of measurement — one “mooch” — then Pruitt survived an amazing 50.3 mooches, even while enduring more than a dozen scandals, any one of which would have doomed a lesser man.”

   “Scaramucci, who jokingly measures time in mooches, a unit equal to approximately 11 days, said he doesn’t necessarily like the version of himself he often sees on screen, but feels director Andrew J. Moscato was accurate.”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English moochen, mouchen (“to pretend poverty”), from Old French muchier, mucier, mucer (“to skulk, hide, conceal”), from Frankish *mukkjan (“to hide, conceal oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *mukjaną, *mūkōną (“to hide, ambush”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mūg-, *(s)mewgʰ- (“swindler, thief”). Cognate with Old High German mūhhōn (“to store, cache, plunder”), Middle High German muchen, mucken (“to hide, stash”), Middle English müchen, michen (“to rob, steal, pilfer”). More at mitch. Alternate etymology derives mooch from Middle English mucchen (“to hoard, be stingy”, literally “to hide coins in one's nightcap”), from Middle English mucche (“nightcap”), from Middle Dutch mutse (“cap, nightcap”), from Medieval Latin almucia (“nightcap”), of unknown origin, possibly Arabic. More at mutch, amice.

1. To wander around aimlessly, often causing irritation to others.

   “Near-synonyms: loiter, roam”

   “These chaps that mooch about, as Hyde was doing, pick up all sorts of odds and ends. He may have pinched them from a chemist’s shop.”

2. To beg, cadge, or sponge; to exploit or take advantage of others for personal gain.

   “I managed to mooch my way up the journalistic ladder to the next, more impressive level of “Interviewer”.”

   “Mr. Prince responded on Twitter: “Phony fraud photographers keep mooching me. Why? I changed the game,” he wrote on Wednesday. His Instagram account, which previously had over 70,000 followers, is currently disabled.”

3. To steal or filch.

   “I'm tired of driving you all over and sick of you living in my house, mooching my food.”