4. To draw back the right foot along the ground or floor when making a
bow.
Scrape, n. 1. The act of scraping; also, the effect of scraping, as a
scratch, or a harsh sound; as, a noisy scrape on the floor; a scrape of
a pen.
2. A drawing back of the right foot when bowing; also, a bow made with
that accompaniment. H. Spencer.
3. A disagreeable and embarrassing predicament out of which one can not
get without undergoing, as it were, a painful rubbing or scraping; a
perplexity; a difficulty.
The too eager pursuit of this his old enemy through thick and thin
has led him into many of these scrapes.
Bp. Warburton.
Scrape"pen`ny (?), n. One who gathers and hoards money in trifling
sums; a miser.
Scrap"er (?), n. 1. An instrument with which anything is scraped.
Specifically: (a) An instrument by which the soles of shoes are cleaned
from mud and the like, by drawing them across it. (b) An instrument
drawn by oxen or horses, used for scraping up earth in making or
repairing roads, digging cellars, canals etc. (c) (Naut.) An instrument
having two or three sharp sides or edges, for cleaning the planks,
masts, or decks of a ship. (d) (Lithography) In the printing press, a
board, or blade, the edge of which is made to rub over the tympan sheet
and thus produce the impression.
2. One who scrapes. Specifically: (a) One who plays awkwardly on a
violin. (b) One who acquires avariciously and saves penuriously.
Scrap"ing (?), n. 1. The act of scraping; the act or process of making
even, or reducing to the proper form, by means of a scraper.
2. Something scraped off; that which is separated from a substance, or
is collected by scraping; as, the scraping of the street.
Scrap"ing, a. Resembling the act of, or the effect produced by, one
who, or that which, scrapes; as, a scraping noise; a scraping miser. --
Scrap"ing*ly, adv.
Scrap"pi*ly (?), adv. In a scrappy manner; in scraps. Mary Cowden
Clarke.
Scrap"py (?), a. Consisting of scraps; fragmentary; lacking unity or
consistency; as, a scrappy lecture.
A dreadfully scrappy dinner.
Thackeray.
Scrat (?), v. t. [OE. scratten. Cf. Scratch.] To scratch. [Obs.]
Burton.
Scrat, v. i. To rake; to search. [Obs.] Mir. for Mag.
Scrat, n. [Cf. AS. scritta an hermaphrodite, Ir. scrut a scrub, a low,
mean person, Gael. sgrut, sgruit, an old, shriveled person.] An
hermaphrodite. [Obs.] Skinner.
Scratch (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scratched (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Scratching.] [OE. cracchen (perhaps influenced by OE. scratten to
scratch); cf. OHG. chrazzn, G. kratzen, OD. kratsen, kretsen, D.
krassen, Sw. kratsa to scrape, kratta to rake, to scratch, Dan. kradse
to scratch, to scrape, Icel. krota to engrave. Cf. Grate to rub.] 1. To
rub and tear or mark the surface of with something sharp or ragged; to
scrape, roughen, or wound slightly by drawing something pointed or
rough across, as the claws, the nails, a pin, or the like.
Small sand-colored stones, so hard as to scratch glass.
Grew.
Be mindful, when invention fails, To scratch your head, and bite
your nails.
Swift.
2. To write or draw hastily or awkwardly. "Scratch out a pamphlet."
Swift.
3. To cancel by drawing one or more lines through, as the name of a
candidate upon a ballot, or of a horse in a list; hence, to erase; to
efface; -- often with out.
4. To dig or excavate with the claws; as, some animals scratch holes,
in which they burrow.
To scratch a ticket, to cancel one or more names of candidates on a
party ballot; to refuse to vote the party ticket in its entirety. [U.
S.]
Scratch, v. i. 1. To use the claws or nails in tearing or in digging;
to make scratches.
Dull, tame things, . . . that will neither bite nor scratch.
Dr. H. More.
2. (Billiards) To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate
chance of the game. [Cant, U. S.]
Scratch, n. 1. A break in the surface of a thing made by scratching, or
by rubbing with anything pointed or rough; a slight wound, mark,
furrow, or incision.
The coarse file . . . makes deep scratches in the work.
Moxon.
These nails with scratches deform my breast.
Prior.
God forbid a shallow scratch should drive The prince of Wales from
such a field as this.
Shak.
2. (Pugilistic Matches) A line across the prize ring; up to which
boxers are brought when they join fight; hence, test, trial, or proof
of courage; as, to bring to the scratch; to come up to the scratch.
[Cant] Grose.
3. pl. (Far.) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered
with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is
very wet or muddy. Law (Farmer's Veter. Adviser).