v. 1 abrade, graze, scratch, bark, scuff, skin, bruise, damage, injure I scraped my knee on the pavement when I fell 2 Often, scrape off or away or out. remove, rub off or away, scour or scrub or clean (off or away), scratch off or away, claw (at or away or out), gouge out, scrabble (at), dig out or away at As I scraped away the grime, a beautiful mosaic was revealed Each sled dog scraped out a hole in the snow and snuggled into it. 3 skimp, scrimp (and scrape), save, stint, be frugal or stingy or parsimonious or thrifty, pinch and save or scrape, economize; struggle, US scrabble Only by scraping were we able to pay the increased taxes 4 bow and scrape. make obeisance, kowtow, salaam, genuflect, kiss the feet or hem or ring, grovel, demean or lower oneself, prostrate oneself, toady, Colloq boot-lick He can bow and scrape all he likes, but Jones will get nowhere with the foreman 5 scrape by or through. get by, cope, (barely) manage, survive, scrape or get along, Colloq squeak by, barely make it We are just about able to scrape by on the little that Nigel is making 6 scrape together or up. glean, garner, scratch or get or rake together or up, dredge up, scrabble for, gather, save (up), get hold of, marshal, amass, muster, accumulate, aggregate, compile, pile up, stack up, assemble, Colloq scrounge (up) By the time we finally managed to scrape up enough for a down payment on a house, the prices had gone up
n. 7 abrasion, bruise, scratch, graze, scuff, damage, injury He was very annoyed when he found a scrape on his brand-new car 8 predicament, difficulty, quandary, dilemma, plight, (fine) kettle of fish, muddle, stew, situation, position, pinch, Colloq pickle, fix, mess, the crunch, (tight or tough) spot I got into a terrible scrape by forgetting our wedding anniversary Can you lend me some money to help me out of a scrape?