"scrunch," v.t., antedating
sagehen
sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM
Sat Jul 8 00:12:19 UTC 2006
>OED2 offers 1861 from the English journalist George A. Sala, but here's a
>slightly earlier example from NYC:
>
> 1856 _Knickerbocker_ (May) XLVII 509: His complexion looked as if it had
>all been made of the hardest and toughest kind of folds, which had been
>rubbed, and _runched_, and _scrunched_ down into shape like a twist of
>clothes in a scrubbing-machine.
>
> "Runch" seems to be unlisted (var. of "wrench"?), but I haven't checked
>DARE. I wonder what a "scrubbing-machine" was like in 1856? OED doesn't
>list it either.
> JL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Rench" was a commonly-heard variant on "rinse" when I was a kid. Don't
know what light this might shed here.
AM
~@:> ~@:> ~@:> ~@:>
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