scrimp (v.)

1774, "to make too small, to pinch or scant," originally in English an adjective, "scant, meager" (1718), possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish skrumpna "to shrink, shrivel up," Danish skrumpen "shrunken, shriveled," Norwegian dialectal skramp "thin man"), or from a continental Germanic source akin to Middle High German schrimpfen, German schrumpfen "to shrivel" (from Proto-Germanic *skrimp-, from PIE root *(s)kerb- "to turn, bend").

The meaning "economize" is by 1848. Related: Scrimped; scrimping.