scurry

/ˈskʌri/

/ˈskʌri/

Other forms: scurrying; scurried; scurries

Scurry means to move quickly, at a frenzied pace, and often also implies the urge to hide. When you come upon a mouse in your house, chances are it will scurry away.

Think of scurry this way — anytime you describe someone as scurrying, you're comparing them to a mouse. When you say troops scurried back behind their defensive lines, you're insulting them. When you say children scurry around searching for eggs during an Easter egg hunt, you think they're cute.

Definitions of scurry

1. verb

   move about or proceed hurriedly
   “so terrified by the extraordinary ebbing of the sea that they scurried to higher ground”

   synonyms: scamper, scuttle, skitter

   types:

   crab

   scurry sideways like a crab

   type of:

   run

   move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
2. noun

   rushing about hastily in an undignified way
   synonyms: scamper, scramble

   type of:

   haste, hurry, rush, rushing

   the act of moving hurriedly and in a careless manner