scrapel (skrap)

[ Every moment, also, he took off his Highland-bonnet, and performed a bow and scrape . Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xi. 3. An embarra ing position, usually due to imprudence and thoughtle ne . Trust me, Yorick, this unwary pleasantry of thine will sooner or later bring thee into scrapes and difficulties. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 12. IMG:content-0360.png:[blocks in formation] scrape-penny (skrāp'pen"i), n. [ scrapel , v ., + obj. penny.] An avaricious or penurious person; a miser. scraper (skrāpėr), n. [ scrapel + -er1.] 1. An instrument with which anything is scraped. Specifically-(a) An iron implement placed at or near the door of a house, on which to scrape the dirt from the soles of the shoes. Never clean your shoes on the scraper , but in the entry, or at the foot of the stairs;... the scraper will last longer. Swift , Advice to Servants (Footman). "Bad!" echoed Mrs. Briggs. "It's death's-door as you've been nigh, my dear, to the very scraper." Scraper, 1 ( a ). Whyte Melville, White Rose, I. xix. (b) An apparatus drawn by oxen or horses, and used for scraping earth in making or repairing roads, digging cel. lars, canals, etc., and generally for raising and removing loosened soil, etc. In use the scraper is held with the handles slightly elevated till it scoops up its charge of earth, which is held by the sides and back. The handles are then pre ed downward, which elevates the edge so that it no longer scrapes; the scraper being then drawn along, sliding on the bottom, to the place of discharge, the handles are suddenly Scraper, 1 (b).