| / English Dictionary |
SCRAPING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A deep bow with the foot drawn backwards (indicating excessive humility)
Example:
all that bowing and scraping did not impress him
Synonyms:
scrape; scraping
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("scraping" is a kind of...):
bow; bowing; obeisance (bending the head or body or knee as a sign of reverence or submission or shame or greeting)
Derivation:
scrape (bend the knees and bow in a servile manner)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A harsh noise made by scraping
Example:
the scrape of violin bows distracted her
Synonyms:
scrape; scraping; scratch; scratching
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("scraping" is a kind of...):
noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))
Sense 3
Meaning:
(usually plural) a fragment scraped off of something and collected
Example:
they collected blood scrapings for analysis
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("scraping" is a kind of...):
fragment (a piece broken off or cut off of something else)
Domain usage:
plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb scrape
Context examples:
I saw Uriah's lank hand stop, involuntarily, in the scraping of his chin.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
From time to time as they advanced they saw strange lean figures scraping and scratching amid the weeds and thistles, who, on sight of the band of horsemen, threw up their arms and dived in among the brushwood, as shy and as swift as wild animals.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
After some scraping of his chin with his hand, he went on to say, with his eyes cast downward—still scraping, very slowly: When I was but an umble clerk, she always looked down upon me.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
A dull scraping came from beneath, the vessel quivered and shook, at the waist, at the quarter, and behind sounded that grim roaring of the waters, and with a plunge the yellow cog was over the bar and speeding swiftly up the broad and tranquil estuary of the Gironde.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
With this, she tilted some of the contents of the little bottle on to one of the little bits of flannel, and, again imparting some of the virtues of that preparation to one of the little brushes, began rubbing and scraping away with both on the crown of Steerforth's head in the busiest manner I ever witnessed, talking all the time.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He directed his eyes at me in that sidelong glance again, and he made his face very lantern-jawed, for the greater convenience of scraping, as he answered: Oh dear, I am not referring to the Doctor! Oh no, poor man! I mean Mr. Maldon!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
But he looked such a very obdurate butcher as he stood scraping the great block in the shop, and moreover, his appearance was so little improved by the loss of a front tooth which I had knocked out, that I thought it best to make no advances.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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