scrap

Pluralscraps

Formsscraps, scrapping, scrapped

1. 1
   small piecenouncountable or uncountable

   A small piece or fragment; a detached, incomplete part of something larger.

   Only a scrap of the original map survives, showing part of the coastline.

   Investigators pieced the letter together from scraps found in the fireplace.

   Similarpiece, bit, fragment, snippet, crumb

   Note

   The word's history lies in scraping: Middle English scrappe came from Old Norse skrap, from skrapa, "to scrape, scratch", and Swedish skräp, "garbage", is a relative. In use it nearly always names its material with of: a scrap of paper, a scrap of cloth, a scrap of conversation overheard on a train.

2. 2
   get rid ofverbtransitive

   To get rid of something that is no longer wanted; to discard.

   The new government promised to scrap the unpopular tax.

   The airline scrapped its rewards program and replaced it with a simpler one.

   Similarabolish, drop, axe, ditch, discard

   Oppositekeep, retain

   Note

   The verb treats its object as scrap metal, fit only to be broken up, and it takes abstract objects as readily as physical ones: a constitution, a tax, a rewards program. It is blunter than drop or withdraw. Scrapping in the sense of getting into a fight belongs to a separate word, perhaps a dialect variant of scrape, so context has to tell the two apart.

3. 3
   junk metalnoununcountable

   Discarded objects, especially metal ones, that can be taken apart to recover their materials; junk.

   Prices for scrap have risen, so dealers are buying up old appliances again.

   Thieves stripped the copper pipes from the empty building to sell as scrap.

   Similarjunk, waste, rubbish, trash, garbage

   Note

   Here the noun is uncountable and usually goes without an article: a car is good for nothing but scrap, and stolen copper pipe is sold as scrap. Before another noun it builds the trade's vocabulary (scrap metal, a scrap dealer, a scrapyard), and dealers buy more or less as the price of scrap rises and falls.

4. 4
   stop a projectverbtransitive

   To halt work on a project or plan indefinitely.

   The city scrapped the stadium project after its estimated cost doubled.

   Engineers were told to scrap work on the prototype and focus on the existing model.

   Similarabandon, cancel, shelve, drop, axe

5. 5
   least amountnouncountable or uncountable

   The smallest amount of something; the least bit, usually in negative statements.

   There is not a scrap of evidence that the two men ever met.

   She doesn't care a scrap what the neighbors think of her garden.

   Similarbit, jot, crumb, atom

   Note

   It lives mostly in negatives, in two patterns: not a scrap of before a noun (not a scrap of evidence), and a scrap on its own after care or mind, where it works like at all. In Elizabeth von Arnim's In the Mountains, a speaker insists she doesn't mind someone "being technically German a scrap".

6. 6
   leftover foodnouncountable or uncountable

   Food left over from a meal, usually spoken of in the plural.

   Restaurant scraps are collected every night and turned into compost.

   Kitchen staff are told to bin every scrap separately for the compost collection.

   Similarleftover

7. 7
   short fightnouncountable

   A fight or scuffle, especially a short or minor one.

   A scrap broke out between rival fans outside the stadium.

   He came home with a black eye from some scrap at the bar.

   Similarfight, scuffle, brawl, tussle, punch-up

   Note

   The fighting scrap has a separate, uncertain history from the small piece: it may come from an old colloquial scrap meaning a sinister plot or piece of villainy, or it may be a dialect form of scrape. It is usually small and short-lived, the kind of thing people get into, as in a little scrap over who should pay the bill.

8. 8
   get rid ofverbtransitive

   To dispose of something at a scrapyard, or to break it up for scrap.

   Dozens of aging trains were scrapped once the new fleet arrived.

   It would cost more to repair the old boiler than to scrap it.

   Similarjunk, dismantle

   Note

   Rail fleets, cars and boilers are scrapped in this sense, and the -ing form serves as the noun for the process: Rail magazine reports on the scrapping of the first of Northern's Pacer trains. The same noun works for the verb for discarding, so the scrapping of a tax and of a train differ only in what is thrown away.

9. 9
   get into fightsverbintransitive

   To fight; to get into a scuffle with someone.

   Two men started scrapping outside the bar at closing time.

   The players scrap for every loose ball in the final minutes.

   Similarfight, scuffle, brawl, tussle, battle

   Note

   The fighting verb shares the uncertain history of the noun for a scuffle and takes no direct object, which is how to tell it from the verb for discarding: two men scrapping outside a bar are fighting, while a government scrapping a tax is getting rid of it. With for it means competing hard, as players scrap for every loose ball.

10. 10
    make albumsverbintransitive

    To work on or create scrapbooks.

    A dozen friends meet at the library every month to scrap and swap supplies.

    She has been scrapping since her first child was born, and the albums now fill a shelf.

    Similarscrapbook

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