scrump

Scrump is a term with more than one meaning in English, most notably a fictional character and a verb with roots in British slang.

In popular culture, Scrump refers to a homemade rag doll created by Lilo Pelekai in the Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch (2002). Lilo crafts Scrump from fabric scraps, giving it button eyes, a stitched mouth, and patchwork clothing. The doll serves as a comfort item for Lilo and appears across the film and subsequent series, reflecting her personality and attachment to friends and family, including Stitch.

In British English, to scrump means to steal fruit, especially by taking it from someone else’s orchard or garden. The act, scrumping, is a long-standing rural nickname for pilfering fruit and is often associated with children or playful mischief. The past tense is scrumped, and the noun form scrumping is used to describe the activity.

The etymology of scrump as a verb is informal and informal usage in rural and urban speech; it is generally understood in the United Kingdom, though it is considered regional rather than part of standard formal language. The doll Scrump remains the most recognizable cultural reference, while scrump as a verb persists as a colloquial term for stealing fruit. See also related terms such as scrumpy, a type of cider, and scrumping as a broader concept of fruit theft.