scrape

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English scrapen,^[2][3][4] probably borrowed from Old Norse skrapa (“to scrape, erase”),^{[2][5][6][4][7][8]} the source of Swedish skrapa and Danish skrabe.^[9][10] The Norse verb is cognate with Old English scrapian (“to scrape, scratch”),^{[3][10][6][11]} which Etymonline thinks also contributed to the English word, and which the Oxford dictionaries take as its base, reinforced in Middle English by the Norse verb or by Middle Dutch schrapen.^[3][12][13] The OED leaves it open whether the Middle English verb continues the Old English one or was borrowed from Norse,^[10] and Ayto whether it came from Norse or from Middle Dutch.^[9] The native form survived as shrapen, which the Norse-derived verb replaced.^[14][9] All go back to Proto-Germanic *skrapōną,^[3][10] from a base *skrap-, an ablaut variant of the root of screpan (“to scrape”);^[10][9] other cognates are Dutch schrapen, German schrappen^[3][10] and Middle High German schreffen (“to scratch”).^[6][4] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *skerb-, an extension of *sker- (“to cut”),^[3][5] the root of shear, and Merriam-Webster compares Latin scrobis (“trench”);^[6] the OED suggests that the Germanic root may be a metathesis of that of sharp.^[10][11] scrap comes from the related Old Norse skrap (“remnants, trifles”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make erasures with a knife; to erase: early 13th century in Etymonline, probably about 1225 in Barnhart.^[3][4] The OED's first record is in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne (1303), of scraping out writing; this sense was obsolete after 1688.^[10]

Semantic evolution

By the late 14th century the verb meant to remove an outer layer with a sharp or rough tool, first in the Wycliffite Bible,^[10][3] and by about 1430 to clean or smooth a surface in this way.^[10] The Old English sense, to scratch with the nails or claws, lasted into the early 17th century,^[13] and animals were said to scrape soil or holes from about 1440 to 1662.^[10] From the 1540s it meant to gather together with effort or by small savings,^[3][11] and to scrape acquaintance is from about 1600;^[3] Johnson called it "a low phrase".^[15] The bow made by drawing one foot back is recorded as a noun in 1628 and as a verb from the 1640s.^[10][3] The transitive sense of rubbing harshly against a surface in passing dates from 1741,^[3] and the engraver's sense of producing a mezzotint from 1747.^[10] The noun meant a scraping tool from about 1440 and the act of scraping from 1483;^[10][3] an awkward predicament, by 1709, probably from the idea of being scraped while getting through a narrow passage, as the OED suggests.^[3] Johnson defined this noun as "difficulty; perplexity; distress" and called it "a low word".^[16] In 19th-century slang scrape was also a shave,^[10][3][17] and in the 20th century a slang name for a curettage or abortion (1968).^[10] The phrase scrape the bottom of the barrel, to make do with the worst of what is available, is from 1942, of American employers short of workers in the war.^[3] In Gloucestershire dialect the past tense could be scroap.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – to erase with a knife.^[4][3]
• before 1382 – to remove an outer layer with a sharp or rough tool.^[10]
• c. 1430 – to clean or smooth a surface by scraping.^[10]
• c. 1440 – noun, a scraping tool.^[10]
• 1483 – noun, an act of scraping.^[10]
• 1540s – to gather together with difficulty.^[3]
• c. 1600 – to scrape acquaintance.^[3]
• 1628 – noun, an awkward bow with one foot drawn back.^[10]
• 1709 – noun, an awkward predicament.^[3]
• 1741 – to rub harshly against a surface in passing.^[3]
• 1747 – to make a mezzotint by scraping the plate.^[10]
• 1859 – noun, a shave (jocular).^[10][3]
• 1886 – a scraping sound.^[10][3]
• 1942 – scrape the bottom of the barrel.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To remove dirt, paint or an outer layer from a surface by drawing a sharp or rough edge firmly across it: She scraped the old varnish off the table.^[19][20][6]
2. To clean, smooth or abrade a surface in this way: He scraped the potatoes for supper.^[19][20][10]
3. To rub or drag against something hard or rough, often with a harsh grating noise: The hull scraped along the jetty.^[19][20][21]
4. To injure or damage by rough contact: The boy scraped his elbow on the wall.^[19][20]
5. To gather or produce with difficulty, usually with together or up: They scraped together enough for the deposit.^[19][21]
6. To succeed or manage with difficulty, often with by or through: She just scraped through her driving test.^[19][21]
7. To live very economically; to scrimp.^[19][20]
8. To draw one foot back in making a bow; in bow and scrape, to behave in an obsequious way.^[20][10]
9. (humorous) To play a violin badly.^[21]
10. (obsolete, 1303–1688) To erase writing with a knife.^[10][13]

Noun

1. An act or the sound of scraping: the scrape of a spade on stone.^[19][6][10]
2. A place on the skin scraped raw; an abrasion.^[19]
3. An awkward or embarrassing predicament, usually brought on by one's own foolishness: He was always getting into scrapes as a boy.^[19][3]
4. A fight or scuffle.^[19]
5. A bare hollow scraped in the ground, especially one made by a bird as a nest.^[6][13]
6. An awkward bow in which one foot is drawn back.^[10][13]

Word family

• scraper
• scrapable

Related words

• scrap
• sharp
• shear
• scrabble
• scurvy

Usage notes

A dialect noun scrape, a trap for catching birds, recorded from 1620, has a source of its own: its origin is obscure, and a connection with Old Norse skreppa (“mousetrap”) is very doubtful.^[10][13]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
20. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
21. ^ a b c d Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press