scrape
noun
Definitions of scrape noun
situation
- Countableinformal
A difficult or slightly dangerous situation caused by one's own foolish behavior.
She always gets into silly scrapes; I wish she would think before acting.
He had a few scrapes with the police and ended up in court.
They got into a scrape for causing trouble in the bar.
rub
- CountableUncountable
A minor injury from rubbing against a surface, or a harsh noise made by something rubbing against a surface.
"It's just a scrape," the boy said, looking at his bleeding knee.
I dislike the scrape of chalk on the blackboard.
She heard the scrape of branches rubbing against the window.
verb
Definitions of scrape verb
remove
- Transitive
To remove an unwanted substance or a top layer from something using a sharp or rough edge.
Scrape the mud off your boots before you come in.
We need to scrape the snow off the car before we can drive it.
The gardener scraped away the weeds with a shovel.
rub
- TransitiveIntransitiveVerb + adv/prep
To rub against a surface, causing slight damage or an unpleasant sound.
Jackie fell over and scraped her knee (on the pavement).
I was woken up by the sound of branches scraping against my bedroom window.
He accidentally scraped the car against the wall.
succeed
- IntransitiveVerb + adv/prep
To succeed in getting or achieving something, but with difficulty or by a very small margin.
Her grades were not great, but she scraped into university.
He just scraped through the exam.
They barely scraped together enough money for the trip.
Idioms
- scrape a living
To barely earn enough money to cover basic necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter.
• Many artists scrape a living in the early stages of their careers.
- scrape home
To win by a very narrow margin in a competition.
• Despite a poor performance, he still managed to scrape home with a narrow lead.
- scrape the bottom of the barrel
To be forced to choose the least desirable people or things because there are no better alternatives available.
• Their team roster looks like they are scraping the bottom of the barrel; it feels like they just included anyone they could find.
Phrasal Verbs of scrape
- scrape through (something)
to achieve success in something with considerable difficulty
• He only scraped through the exam at the last minute.
- scrape by/along
to manage to get by with insufficient resources or necessities for living
• They managed to scrape by with their unstable income.
- scrape something/someone together/up
to struggle significantly to gather enough of something, particularly money, or to identify and obtain the necessary items or individuals.
• In the financial crisis, they managed to scrape together enough money to pay the rent.