noun
scrooge
SKROOJ/skruːdʒ/
A person who resents spending money or sharing in others' enjoyment.
The scrooge clutches her money instead of replacing her worn shoe.
Etymology
Scrooge, the miserly employer in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, became a byword for stinginess. His name came to describe anyone similarly unwilling to spend money.
More examples
- Don't be such a scrooge about buying a small gift.
- She called him a scrooge for refusing to share the decorations.
- Even the office scrooge contributed to the celebration.
Forms
scrooge · scrooges
Similar words
- miser
- The more direct term for someone unwilling to spend.
- tightwad
- A more bluntly insulting informal term for a stingy person.