scrape — English Dictionary

scrape
Pronunciations (2)
  • /skɹeɪp/
  • skɹeɪp

Verb

  1. To draw (an object, especially a sharp or angular one), along (something) while exerting pressure.

    Usage
    • Transitive or intransitive
    Synonyms
    Examples

    She scraped the wooden plate with her fingernails.

    That car often scrapes the shallowest of humps because of its low ground clearance.

  2. To remove (something) by drawing an object along in this manner.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    Scrape the chewing gum off with a knife.

  3. To injure or damage by rubbing across a surface.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    She tripped on a rock and scraped her knee.

    We went tip-toeing along a path amongst the trees back towards the end of the widow's garden, stooping down so as the branches wouldn't scrape our heads.

  4. To barely manage to achieve or attain.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    I scraped a pass in the exam.

  5. To collect or gather, especially without regard to the quality of what is chosen.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    Just use whatever you can scrape together.

  6. To extract data by automated means from a format not intended to be machine-readable, such as a screenshot or a formatted web page.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    They didn't provide an API, so I simply scraped their website.

    More examples (1)

    The threat of the impending axe horrified Scott. He and his supporters hastily “scraped” as many Geocities^([sic]) pages as they could, creating a 641-gigabyte archive that initially circulated on file-sharing networks.

  7. To occupy oneself with getting laboriously.

    Usage
    • Intransitive
    Examples

    He scraped and saved until he became rich.

    And he shall spend mine honour with his shame, As thriftless sons their scraping fathers' gold

  8. To play awkwardly and inharmoniously on a violin or similar instrument.

    Usage
    • Transitive or intransitive
    Examples

    Some people covered their ears when he started to scrape his violin.

    At that time the Grand Duke had only two occupations. One was to scrape the violin, the other to train spaniels for hunting.

  9. To draw back the right foot along the ground or floor when making a bow.

    Usage
    • Intransitive
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Yossarian went along in Milo Minderbinder's speeding M & M staff car to police headquarters to meet a swarthy, untidy police commissioner with a narrow black mustache and unbuttoned tunic who was fiddling with a stout woman with warts and two chins when they entered his office and who greeted Milo with warm surprise and bowed and scraped in obscene servility as though Milo were some elegant marquis.

  10. To express disapprobation of (a play, etc.) or to silence (a speaker) by drawing the feet back and forth upon the floor; usually with down.

    Examples

    When the debate was resumed, the tide ran so strongly against the accused that his friends were coughed and scraped down.

Noun

  1. A broad, shallow injury left by scraping (rather than a cut or a scratch).

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples

    He fell on the sidewalk and got a scrape on his knee.

  2. The sound or action of something being scraped.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Synonyms
    Examples

    For a long while, the only sounds in the café were the scrapes of forks against old white plates and occasional slurps from coffee mugs.

    The scrape of the plate against the stone woke him, and he looked across to find Isocrates there, replacing the food.

    More examples (1)

    I summon all my strength to make the shapes. Letter by painful letter we scrawl together. My mum follows each scrape of the pen with rapt anticipation.

  3. Something removed by being scraped; a thin layer of something such as butter on bread.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    A little solace came at tea time, in the shape of a double ration of bread—a whole, instead of a half-slice—with the delicious addition of a thin scrape of butter: […]

    Or I could make a cup of tea and sit on the toilet with it – now we’re talking! And what about some toast and that last scrape of Marmite I hid…

  4. A fight, especially a fistfight without weapons.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Slang
    • Uncountable
    Examples

    He got in a scrape with the school bully.

  5. An awkward set of circumstances.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples

    I'm in a bit of a scrape — I've no money to buy my wife a birthday present.

    More examples (1)

    Stuart made us all laugh - his mischievous stories were told throughout his career and in later days featured some very senior politicians and railway managers. He certainly got into many scrapes over the years.

  6. A D and C or abortion; or, a miscarriage.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    • Countable
    • Slang
    • Uncountable
    Examples
    More examples (3)

    1972, in U.S. Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Abuse of psychiatry for political repression in the Soviet Union. Hearing, Ninety-second Congress, second session, United States Government Printing Office, page 127, It’s quite possible, in view of the diagnosis ‘danger of miscarriage’, that they might drag me off, give me a scrape and then say that the miscarriage began itself.

    In expert hands abortion nowadays is almost the same as having a scrape (D & C) and due to improved techniques such as suction termination, and improved lighter anaesthetic, most women feel no worse than having a tooth out.

    The loss is significant to the woman and will be stated as such by her. For her it is not “nothing,” “just a scrape,” or “not a life.” It is the beginning of a baby. Years later, she may recall it not just as a miscarriage but also as a baby that was lost.

    17.Have you had a scrape or curettage recently?

  7. A shallow depression used by ground birds as a nest; a nest scrape.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples

    We knew from U. Weidmann’s work (1956) that Black-headed Gulls could be prevented from laying by offering them eggs on the empty scrape veil before […]

    More examples (2)

    The plover lays its eggs in a scrape on the ground. ¶ […] ¶ Birds’ nests can be little more than a scrape in the ground or a delicate structure of plant material, mud, and saliva.

    Turkey females place their eggs in a shallow scrape in a hidden spot on the ground. Young are born ready to leave the nest and feed themselves (eating insects for their first few weeks).

  8. A shallow pit dug as a hideout.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples

    In between rounds, he dug a scrape for himself with his entrenching tool.

  9. A shave.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    • Countable
    • Slang
    • Uncountable
    Examples

    A'm goin to the barber's for a scrape.

  10. Cheap butter.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    • Obsolete
    • Slang
    • Uncountable
  11. Butter laid on bread in the thinnest possible manner, as though laid on and scraped off again.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    • Obsolete
    • Slang
    • Uncountable
    Examples

    “Got a nice bit of haddock for tonight. Thought I might do it with a poached egg, bit of pepper, bread and scrape”

  12. A diminutive of the bend (especially of the bend sinister) which is half its width.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples

    Alternative form: scarpe

    16. Azure, a Scrape Argent. 17. Gules, a Battune Argent.

    More examples (3)

    Azure, a Scrape Or.

    Argent, a scrape purpure.

    (A variant blazon would be: Argent, three scrapes enhanced gules.)

  13. An intermittent shallow pond in a wetland or floodplain, often artificially created to attract birds.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable

Noun

  1. a harsh noise made by scraping

    Broader terms
    Examples

    the scrape of violin bows distracted her

  2. an abraded area where the skin is torn or worn off

    Broader terms
  3. a deep bow with the foot drawn backwards (indicating excessive humility)

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    all that bowing and scraping did not impress him

  4. an indication of damage

    Broader terms

Verb

  1. scratch repeatedly

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    The cat scraped at the armchair

  2. make by scraping

    Broader terms
    Examples

    They scraped a letter into the stone

  3. cut the surface of; wear away the surface of

    Broader terms
  4. bend the knees and bow in a servile manner

    Broader terms
  5. gather (money or other resources) together over time

    Examples

    She had scraped together enough money for college

    they scratched a meager living

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

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    The boy skinned his knee when he fell

Word forms
scrapesscrapingscrapedscrapedscrapes

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