Other forms: scurrying, scurried, scurries
To scurry is to hurry along with short quick steps. Scurry away, scurrying across the floor, a scurry of activity.
The steps are short and the movement looks anxious, which is why it suits mice, insects and people crossing a road in rain. It is close to scuttle and slightly less furtive. As a noun a scurry is a burst of hurried movement. Note that scurry may come from hurry-scurry, a reduplication of hurry, which is how English often builds these words.
1verbscurryTo hurry along with short quick steps.
“The mice scurried under the floorboards when I switched on the light.”
2nounburstA burst of hurried movement.
“There was a scurry of footsteps as the children rushed to hide.”
scurry is a hurried movement.
Scurry is probably shortened from hurry-scurry, a rhyming reduplication of hurry. English builds a great many words this way and then forgets the longer form.
Perhaps from hurry-skurry, a reduplication of hurry.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Ways of Moving