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Scrape

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Iʹve got into a sad scrape—a great difficulty. We use rub, squeeze, pinch, and scrape to express the same idea. Thus Shakespeare says, “Ay, there’s the rub” (difficulty); “I have got into tribulation” (a squeeze, from the Latin tribʹulo, to squeeze); “I am come to a pinch” (a difficulty). Some think the word a corrupt contraction of escapade, but Robert Chambers thinks it is borrowed from a term in golf. A rabbit’s burrow in Scotland, he says, is called a “scrape,” and if the ball gets into such a hole it can hardly be played. The rules of the game allow something to the player who “gets into a scrape.” (Book of Days.)

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Scotists
Scotland
Scotland Yard (London)
Scott
Scotus (Duns)
Scourge of Christians
Scourge of God
Scourge of Princes
Scouring
Scowerers
Scrape
Scrape an Acquaintance (To)
Scratch
Scratch (A)
Scratch Cradle
Scratch Crew (A)
Scratch Eleven (A)
Scratch Race (A)
Scratched
Screw (A)
Screw Loose (A)