barrel /barˈəl/ noun- A wooden container made of curved staves bound with hoops
- Its contents or its capacity (36 imperial gallons of ale and beer; 35 imperial gallons, 42 US gallons, of oil; various weights or quantities of other goods)
- A revolving drum
- A cylinder eg of a capstan
- A hollow cylinder eg of a pen or quill
- A tube eg of a gun
- A toggle-button
- The trunk of a horse, etc
- A roly-poly person (informal)
- A large quantity, a lot (eg of fun) (informal)
transitive verb (barr'elling; barr'elled) To put in barrels intransitive verb (N American)To travel or move very quickly, drive very fast ORIGIN: OFr baril; perh connected with bar1 barrˈelage noun A quantity of barrels barrˈelful noun (pl barrˈelfuls) As much as a barrel will hold barrˈelled adjective - Having a barrel or barrels
- Put in barrels
barrˈel-bulk noun A measure of capacity of 5 cubic feet barrel-chestˈed adjective Having a large, rounded, projecting ribcage barrˈelhouse noun (N American) A cheap saloon adjective (of jazz) crude and rough in style barrel organ noun A mechanical instrument for playing tunes by means of a revolving drum set with pins and turned by a handle barrel roll noun (aerobatics) A complete revolution on the longitudinal axis barrel vault noun A vault with a simple semi-cylindrical roof barrˈel-vaulted adjective have someone over a barrel To be in a position to get whatever one wants from someone on the barrelhead (US) On the spot, without delay, as payment scrape the (bottom of the) barrel - To utilize the very last of one's resources
- To turn to something or someone as a last resort, reluctantly and perhaps not without humiliation
scrape /skrāp/ transitive verb- To pass a sharp edge over
- To move with a grating sound over
- To smooth, clean, clear, reduce in thickness, abrade, graze, remove, form, collect, bring, render, by such an action
- To get together, collect by laborious effort (often with together or up)
- To achieve with difficulty
- To erase
- Contemptuously, to play (the fiddle)
intransitive verb- To graze (with against or on)
- To scratch the ground
- To grate
- To make a grating sound
- To draw back the foot in making a bow
- To play the fiddle
- To save as much as possible, enduring hardship thereby
- To get by with difficulty (with through, along, home, etc)
noun- An act, process, or period of scraping
- A stroke of a violin, etc bow
- A grating sound
- A stroke (of a pen)
- A scraped place in the ground
- A graze or abrasion, eg on the skin
- A shave (facetious)
- A mass of earth scraped up, eg by a rabbit
- A backward movement of one foot accompanying a bow
- A scraping or thin layer
- Thin-spread butter or margarine
- A fight or other conflict (informal)
- A difficult or embarrassing predicament (informal)
ORIGIN: OE scrapian or ON skrapa scrāpˈer noun - A person who scrapes
- A scraping tool, instrument or machine
- A fiddler (derogatory)
- A barber (derogatory)
- Any of several gallinaceous birds that scrape or scratch the ground
scrāpˈie noun A degenerative disease caused by prions and affecting the central nervous system of sheep, characterized by acute itching, the animals rubbing against trees, etc to relieve it scrāpˈing noun - The action of the verb
- Its sound
- A thin piece scraped off
scrappˈage noun A scheme by which an owner of a car or other piece of equipment can claim towards the cost of replacing it scrapeˈgood noun (archaic) A miser scrapeˈgut noun (archaic) A fiddler scrapeˈpenny noun (archaic) A miser scrapˈerboard noun - A clay-surface board on which drawings can be made by scraping tints off as well as applying them
- Such a drawing
- This method of making drawings
scraper ring noun (motoring) A ring fitted on the skirt of a petrol or oil engine piston to prevent excessive oil consumption (also oil-control ring) bow and scrape To be over-obsequious scrape acquaintance with To contrive somehow to get to know scrape the (bottom of the) barrel see under barrel |