Scrape

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /skɹeɪp/

Definitions

1. To drag or rub something roughly against a surface, often removing material or causing a harsh sound
2. To remove a layer of material from a surface through a rough motion, often resulting in sound and the smoothing of imperfections
3. To move an object across a surface with pressure, typically leading to the removal of a layer and often generating a noise

Etymology: The verb "scrape" arrived in English from two closely related Germanic sources at once: Old English "scrapian" and Old Norse "skrapa", both meaning "to scrape, scratch". Their shared ancestor, reconstructed as Proto-Germanic, goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to engrave", which places the word's earliest sense in cutting or carving rather than rubbing. The same root gave German "schrappen", Dutch "schrapen" and "schrabben", and Icelandic "skrapa", all still meaning some form of scraping. Its most surprising relative, though, is Latin "scribō", which originally meant "dig with a pen, draw, write". Scribing and scraping thus once shared a common idea of marking a surface, with writing and rubbing diverging later.

Synonyms: scratch, scuff, abrade, remove, peel

Antonyms: smooth, apply, attach, add, coat