SCRAPING

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does scraping mean? 

• SCRAPING (noun)
  The noun SCRAPING has 3 senses:

1. (usually plural) a fragment scraped off of something and collected

2. a harsh noise made by scraping

3. a deep bow with the foot drawn backwards (indicating excessive humility)

  Familiarity information: SCRAPING used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCRAPING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(usually plural) a fragment scraped off of something and collected

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

they collected blood scrapings for analysis

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A harsh noise made by scraping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

scrape; scraping; scratch; scratching

Context example:

the scrape of violin bows distracted her

Hypernyms ("scraping" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A deep bow with the foot drawn backwards (indicating excessive humility)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

scrape; scraping

Context example:

all that bowing and scraping did not impress him

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)

 Context examples 

Superficial damage to the skin caused by rubbing or scraping.

(Abrasion, NCI Thesaurus)

Dilatation of the cervix uteri followed by a scraping of the endometrium with a curette.

(Dilation and curettage, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A thin tube is inserted through the cervix into the uterus, and gentle scraping and suction are used to remove the sample.

(Endometrial biopsy, NCI Dictionary)

He left off scraping his chin, and sucked in his cheeks until they seemed to meet inside; keeping his sidelong glance upon me all the while.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He dared not look down and could but grope slowly onwards, his face to the cliff, his fingers clutching, his feet scraping and feeling for a support.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I fixed in the stumps so artificially, scraping and sloping them with my knife toward the points, that I made a very tolerable comb; which was a seasonable supply, my own being so much broken in the teeth, that it was almost useless: neither did I know any artist in that country so nice and exact, as would undertake to make me another.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Just before school closed, Jo appeared, wearing a grim expression as she stalked up to the desk, and delivered a letter from her mother, then collected Amy's property, and departed, carefully scraping the mud from her boots on the door mat, as if she shook the dust of the place off her feet.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my bed cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips and pounding and scraping of horses' feet up the rocky path beyond the courtyard.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I had stooped and was scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the colonel looking down at me.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Again there was a long silence, and I had begun to fear that it was a false alarm, when a stealthy step was heard upon the other side of the hut, and a moment later a metallic scraping and clinking.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)