scrape

Etymology

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”).

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To draw (an object, especially a sharp or angular one), along (something) while exerting pressure.
   She scraped the wooden plate with her fingernails.
   That car often scrapes the shallowest of humps because of its low ground clearance.
2. (transitive) To remove (something) by drawing an object along in this manner.
   Scrape the chewing gum off with a knife.
3. (transitive) To injure or damage by rubbing across a surface.
   She tripped on a rock and scraped her knee.
4. (transitive) To barely manage to achieve.
   I scraped a pass in the exam.
5. (transitive) To collect or gather, especially without regard to the quality of what is chosen.
   Just use whatever you can scrape together.
6. (computing) To extract data by automated means from a format not intended to be machine-readable, such as a screenshot or a formatted web page.
   The threat of the impending axe horrified Scott. He and his supporters hastily “scraped” as many Geocities pages as they could, creating a 641-gigabyte archive that initially circulated on file-sharing networks. 2011-04-19, Sumit Paul-Choudhury, “Digital legacy: The fate of your online soul”, in NewScientist
7. (intransitive) To occupy oneself with getting laboriously.
   He scraped and saved until he became rich.
8. (transitive, intransitive) To play awkwardly and inharmoniously on a violin or similar instrument.
9. (intransitive) To draw back the right foot along the ground or floor when making a bow].
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.
    All the various kinds of interest which 80 strongly against the accused , that his friends belong to the near and to the distant , to the were coughed and scraped down. 1841, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Warren Hastings

noun

1. A broad, shallow injury left by scraping (rather than a cut or a scratch).
   He fell on the sidewalk and got a scrape on his knee.
2. (slang) A fight, especially a fistfight without weapons.
   He got in a scrape with the school bully.
3. An awkward set of circumstances.
   I'm in a bit of a scrape — I've no money to buy my wife a birthday present.
   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. December 2 2020, “A life remembered: Stuart Baker”, in Rail, page 61
4. (Britain, slang) A D and C or abortion; or, a miscarriage.
   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. 1980, John Cobb, Babyshock: A Mother’s First Five Years, Hutchinson, page 232
   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. 1985, Beverley Raphael, The Anatomy of Bereavement: a handbook for the caring professions, Routledge,, page 236
   17.Have you had a scrape or curettage recently? 1999, David Jenkins, Listening to Gynaecological Patients\ Problems, Springer,, page 16
5. A shallow depression used by ground birds as a nest; a nest scrape.
   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 […] 1948, Behaviour: An International Journal of Comparative Ethology, E. J. Brill, page 103
   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. 2000, Charles A. Taylor, The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia, Kingfisher Publications,, page 85
   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). 2006, Les Beletsky, Birds of the World, Johns Hopkins University Press,, page 95
6. (military) A shallow pit dug as a hideout.
   In between rounds, he dug a scrape for himself with his entrenching tool. 2014, Harry Turtledove, Hitler's War
7. (UK, slang) A shave.
   A'm goin to the barber's for a scrape. 1945, Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire, page 66
8. (uncountable, UK, slang, obsolete) Cheap butter.
9. (uncountable, UK, slang, obsolete) Butter laid on bread in the thinnest possible manner, as though laid on and scraped off again.
   Got a nice bit of haddock for tonight. Thought I might do it with a poached egg, bit of pepper, bread and scrape 2018-02-11, Colin Dexter, Russell Lewis, 31:48 from the start, in Endeavour(Cartouche), season 5, episode 2 (TV series), spoken by DS Jim Strange (Sean Rigby)
10. (heraldry) A diminutive of the bend (especially of the bend sinister) which is half its width.
    Alternative form: scarpe
    Coordinate term: baton
    16. Azure, a Scrape Argent. 17. Gules, a Battune Argent. 1730, Richard Blome, The Art of Heraldry, page 67
    Azure, a Scrape Or. 1810, Encyclopædia Britannica: Or, A Dictionary of Arts and Science, Compiled Upon a New Plan, page 406
    Argent, a scrape purpure. 1894, Sir Francis James Grant, The Manual of Heraldry: Being a Concise Description of the Several Terms Used, and Containing a Dictionary of Every Designation in the Science, page 21
    (A variant blazon would be: Argent, three scrapes enhanced gules.) 1961, Jack Adolphe Reynolds, Heraldry and You: Modern Heraldic Usage in America, Edinburgh; New York : Nelson