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"mooch" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often bum (3 letters).
Definitions
ask for and get free; be a parasite
Word origin
From Middle English moochen, mouchen (“to pretend poverty”), from Old French muchier, mucier, mucer (“to skulk, hide, conceal”), from Frankish *mukkjan (“to hide, conceal oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *mukjaną, *mūkōną (“to hide, ambush”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mūg-, *(s)mewgʰ- (“swindler, thief”).
Used in a sentence
“Near-synonyms: loiter, roam”
“These chaps that mooch about, as Hyde was doing, pick up all sorts of odds and ends. He may have pinched them from a chemist’s shop.”
“You have to be alone to mooch about properly. Other people will just get in the way and be all energetic about things. So wait until they've gone, make a cup of tea and then let the mooching commence.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Ask for freebies”5 letters
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