Link Centre Dictionary

scrape

UK/skɹeɪp/ US/ˈskreɪp/ fairly common slang uk
verb (7) noun (4)

verb

1.

scratch repeatedly

  • “The cat scraped at the armchair”
Synonyms
2.

make by scraping

  • “They scraped a letter into the stone”
3.

cut the surface of; wear away the surface of

Synonyms
4.

bend the knees and bow in a servile manner

Synonyms
5.

gather (money or other resources) together over time

  • “She had scraped together enough money for college”
  • “they scratched a meager living”
Synonyms
6.

bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of

  • “The boy skinned his knee when he fell”
Synonyms
7.

strike against an object

  • “She stubbed her one”
  • “s broken”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a harsh noise made by scraping

  • “the scrape of violin bows distracted her”
Synonyms
2.

an abraded area where the skin is torn or worn off

Synonyms
3.

a deep bow with the foot drawn backwards (indicating excessive humility)

  • “all that bowing and scraping did not impress him”
Synonyms
4.

Origin

From Middle English scrapen, from Old Norse skrapa (“to scrape, scratch”) and Old English scrapian (“to scrape, scratch”), both from Proto-Germanic *skrapōną, *skrepaną (“to scrape, scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *skrebʰ- (“to engrave”). Cognate with Dutch schrapen (“to scrape”), schrappen (“to strike through; to cancel; to scrap”), schrabben (“to scratch”), German schrappen (“to scrape”), Danish skrabe (“to scrape”), Icelandic skrapa (“to scrape”), Walloon screper (“to scrape”), Latin scribō (“dig with a pen, draw, write”).

Phrases

  • bow and scrape
  • bread and scrape
  • pick scrape
  • rake and scrape
  • scrape acquaintance
  • scrape along
  • scrape and bow
  • scrape at the bottom of the barrel
  • scrape by
  • scrape down

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.