english
1
general::
see (SCRAPE THE) BOTTOM OF THE BARREL; BOW AND SCRAPE; SCARE (SCRAPE) UP.
American Heritage Idioms
2
general::
scrape sth/sb together/up
[ M ] informal
to manage with great difficulty to collect enough of something, especially money, or to find the things or people that you need
• I finally scraped together enough money for a flight home.
• Do you think we can scrape up a team for the match on Saturday?, scrape through (sth)
to succeed in something but with a lot of difficulty
• He managed to scrape through his exam with 52%., scrape by/along
2. to manage with difficulty to get a successful result or to reach an acceptable standard
• I only learnt Spanish for a year but I can just scrape by in most situations., scrape by/along
1. to manage to live when you do not have enough money and other necessary things
• He lost his job, so the family had to scrape along on £95 a week.
Cambridge-Phrasal Verbs
3
general::
verb ADV. carefully, gently She carefully scraped away the top layer of paint. | away, back, off I scraped the dirt off. PREP. against He scraped the car against the garage wall. | along Patrick lifted the gate to prevent it scraping along the ground. | from Her hair was scraped back from her face. | on I scraped my elbow on the wall as I cycled past. | with I scraped the carrots with a knife. PHRASES scrape sth clean The wood had been scraped clean. PHRASAL VERBS scrape through ADV. (only) just He only just scraped through his exams. VERB + SCRAPE manage to The Conservatives managed to scrape through to an election victory.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary