scrape
/skɹeɪp/ noun C2- 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.
- The sound or action of something being scraped.
- Something removed by being scraped; a thin layer of something such as butter on bread.
- A fight, especially a fistfight without weapons. · He got in a scrape with the school bully.
- An awkward set of circumstances. · I'm in a bit of a scrape — I've no money to buy my wife a birthday present.
- A shallow depression used by ground birds as a nest; a nest scrape.
- A shallow pit dug as a hideout.
- A diminutive of the bend (especially of the bend sinister) which is half its width. · Alternative form: scarpe
Plural scrapes
Phrasal verbs and expressions
- scrape along to barely be able to survive
- scrape by To only afford the essentials; to barely sustain oneself.
- scrape down To make the ground flat with tools like a hoe or shovel.
- scrape off To remove (something) by a scraping action.
- scrape through To marginally manage to progress.
- scrape up To scrape completely; cover all over with scrapes.
From the library
Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was thrown across his knee.
You haven’t got into any scrape for over two months, and I was sure another one was due.
Everything I do gets me or my dearest friends into a scrape.
“He did appear much disturbed when he read the letter that had brought me into this scrape.
Other matches
Learn scrape in real texts
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