Define Scraping
scrape – Wiktionary
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English scrapen, from Old Norse skrapa (“to scrape, scratch”) and Old English scrapian (“to scrape, scratch”), both from Proto-Germanic *skrapōną, *skrepaną (“to scrape, scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *skreb- (“to engrave”). Cognate with Dutch schrapen (“to scrape”), schrappen (“to strike through; to cancel; to scrap”), schrabben (“to scratch”), German schrappen (“to scrape”), Danish skrabe (“to scrape”), Icelandic skrapa (“to scrape”), Walloon screper (“to scrape”), Latin scribō (“dig with a pen, draw, write”).
Pronunciation[edit]
enPR: skrāp, IPA(key): /skɹeɪp/
Rhymes: -eɪp
Verb[edit]
scrape (third-person singular simple present scrapes, present participle scraping, simple past and past participle scraped)
(transitive, intransitive) To draw (an object, especially a sharp or angular one), along (something) while exerting pressure.
She scraped the wooden plate with her fingernails.
(transitive) To remove (something) by drawing an object along in this manner.
Scrape the chewing gum off with a knife.
(transitive) To injure or damage by rubbing across a surface.
She tripped on a rock and scraped her knee.
(transitive) To barely manage to achieve.
I scraped a pass in the exam.
(transitive) To collect or gather, especially without regard to the quality of what is chosen.
Just use whatever you can scrape together.
(computing) To extract data by automated means from a format not intended to be machine-readable, such as a screenshot or a formatted web page.
(intransitive) To occupy oneself with getting laboriously.
He scraped and saved until he became rich.
1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene iii]:And he shall spend mine honour with his shame, As thriftless sons their scraping fathers’ gold
(transitive, intransitive) To play awkwardly and inharmoniously on a violin or similar instrument.
To draw back the right foot along the ground or floor when making a bow.
To express disapprobation of (a play, etc. ) or to silence (a speaker) by drawing the feet back and forth upon the floor; usually with down.
1841, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Warren Hastings
All the various kinds of interest which 80 strongly against the accused, that his friends belong to the near and to the distant, to the were coughed and scraped down.
Synonyms[edit]
(draw an object along while exerting pressure): grate, scratch, drag
(injure by scraping): abrade, chafe, graze
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from scrape (verb)
Translations[edit]
draw an object along while exerting pressure
Armenian: քերել (hy) (kʿerel)
Bashkir: ҡырыу (qïrïw), ышҡыу (ïšqïw)
Belarusian: скрэ́бці impf (skrébci)
Cebuano: kutkot
Chinese:
Mandarin: 刮 (zh) (guā), 擦 (zh) (cā), 刮削 (zh) (guāxiāo), 削 (zh) (xiāo)
Czech: škrábat impf
Dutch: schrapen (nl)
Esperanto: skrapi
Estonian: kriipima, kraapima, kraapama, kraapsima
Finnish: raaputtaa (fi)
French: gratter (fr)
Galician: ripar, rapar, rafar, raspiñar (gl), eslasar, adoxar, raspar (gl)
German: abkratzen (de), kratzen (de), schaben (de), scharren (de), schrammen (de)
Greek:
Ancient: ξύω (xúō)
Icelandic: skrapa
Italian: grattare (it), graffiare (it)
Japanese: 削る (けずる, kezuru), 擦る (ja) (こする, kosuru)
Korean: 긁다 (ko) (geukda)
Latin: rādō
Malay: kikis
Maori: hākuku, wharowharo
Mongolian: хусах (mn) (khusakh)
Neapolitan: grattà
Old English: scrapian
Polish: skrobać (pl) impf
Portuguese: arranhar (pt), raspar (pt)
Romanian: zgâria (ro)
Russian: скрести́ (ru) impf (skrestí), поскрести́ (ru) pf (poskrestí), цара́пать (ru) impf (carápatʹ), поцара́пать (ru) pf (pocarápatʹ), скря́бать (ru) impf (skrjábatʹ), поскря́бать pf (poskrjábatʹ)
Slovak: škrabať impf
Spanish: raspar (es)
Telugu: గీరు (te) (gīru)
Tetum: koi
Turkish: kazımak (tr)
Ukrainian: скребти́ impf (skrebtý)
Walloon: screper (wa), greter (wa)
ǃXóõ: ǁxàa
cause to be in a certain state by scraping
Czech: škrábat
Estonian: kraapima, kaapima, kaabitsema, kõõpima
Italian: (please verify) grattare (it), (please verify) raschiare (it)
Russian: отскреба́ть (ru) impf (otskrebátʹ), отскрести́ (ru) pf (otskrestí), отскрести́ (ru) pf (otskrestí), соскреба́ть (ru) impf (soskrebátʹ), соскрести́ (ru) pf (soskrestí), скобли́ть (ru) impf (skoblítʹ), отскобли́ть (ru) pf (otskoblítʹ)
injure by scraping
Bashkir: һыҙырыу (hïðïrïw)
Mandarin: 擦傷 (zh), 擦伤 (zh) (cāshāng)
Estonian: kriimustama, kriipima
Finnish: raapia (fi), naarmuttaa (fi)
French: effleurer (fr)
Galician: rabuñarse, aruñarse, esgarnancharse, gaduñarse, caritarse, raspuñarse
Italian: (please verify) graffiare (it), (please verify) sbucciarsi
Portuguese: ralar (pt), esfolar (pt)
Russian: цара́пать (ru) impf (carápatʹ), поцара́пать (ru) pf (pocarápatʹ), оцара́пать (ru) pf (ocarápatʹ)
Sanskrit: रदति (sa) (radati)
Spanish: arañarse (es), rasparse
Walloon: si digreter, si dischaver (wa), si screper (wa)
Noun[edit]
scrape (countable and uncountable, plural scrapes)
A broad, shallow injury left by scraping (rather than a cut or a scratch).
He fell on the sidewalk and got a scrape on his knee.
(slang) A fight, especially a fistfight without weapons.
He got in a scrape with the school bully.
An awkward set of circumstances.
I’m in a bit of a scrape — I’ve no money to buy my wife a birthday present.
2020 December 2, “A life remembered: Stuart Baker”, in Rail, page 61:Stuart made us all laugh – his mischievous stories were told throughout his career and in later days featured some very senior politicians and railway managers. He certainly got into many scrapes over the years.
(Britain, slang) A D and C or abortion; or, a miscarriage.
1972, in U. S. Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Abuse of psychiatry for political repression in the Soviet Union. Hearing, Ninety-second Congress, second session, United States Government Printing Office, page 127,
It’s quite possible, in view of the diagnosis ‘danger of miscarriage’, that they might drag me off, give me a scrape and then say that the miscarriage began itself.
1980, John Cobb, Babyshock: A Mother’s First Five Years, Hutchinson, page 232,
In expert hands abortion nowadays is almost the same as having a scrape (D & C) and due to improved techniques such as suction termination, and improved lighter anaesthetic, most women feel no worse than having a tooth out.
1985, Beverley Raphael, The Anatomy of Bereavement: a handbook for the caring professions, Routledge, →ISBN, page 236,
The loss is significant to the woman and will be stated as such by her. For her it is not “nothing, ” “just a scrape, ” or “not a life. ” It is the beginning of a baby. Years later, she may recall it not just as a miscarriage but also as a baby that was lost.
1999, David Jenkins, Listening to Gynaecological Patients\ Problems, Springer, →ISBN, page 16,
you had a scrape or curettage recently?
A shallow depression used by ground birds as a nest; a nest scrape.
1948, in Behaviour: An International Journal of Comparative Ethology, E. J. Brill, page 103,
We knew from U. Weidmann’s work (1956) that Black-headed Gulls could be prevented from laying by offering them eggs on the empty scrape veil before […]
2000, Charles A. Taylor, The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia, Kingfisher Publications, →ISBN, page 85,
The plover lays its eggs in a scrape on the ground. ¶ […] ¶ Birds’ nests can be little more than a scrape in the ground or a delicate structure of plant material, mud, and saliva.
2006, Les Beletsky, Birds of the World, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 95,
Turkey females place their eggs in a shallow scrape in a hidden spot on the ground. Young are born ready to leave the nest and feed themselves (eating insects for their first few weeks).
(military) A shallow pit dug as a hideout.
2014, Harry Turtledove, Hitler’s War
In between rounds, he dug a scrape for himself with his entrenching tool.
(Britain, slang) A shave.
1945, Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire (page 66)
A’m goin to the barber’s for a scrape.
(uncountable, Britain, slang, obsolete) Cheap butter.
(uncountable, Britain, slang, obsolete) Butter laid on bread in the thinnest possible manner, as though laid on and scraped off again.
Quotations[edit]
2001, Carolyn Cooke, The Bostons, Houghton Mifflin Books, →ISBN, page 172–173,
He could hear deer moo in the woods, smell their musk, spot a scrape in a birch tree twenty feet away.
2005, Dragan Vujic, Hunting Farm Country Whitetails, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 58,
Female whitetails periodically investigate scrapes created by specific bucks. As the doe approaches estrus and becomes receptive to breeding, she will urinate in a scrape as a sharp signal to the buck that she is ready for him.
(injury): abrasion, graze
(fight): altercation, brawl, fistfight, fight, fisticuffs, punch-up, scuffle
(awkward set of circumstances): bind, fix, mess, pickle
See also Thesaurus:injury
bread and scrape
fight
Finnish: tappelu (fi)
German: Kampf (de) m, Boxkampf (de) m, Faustkampf (de) m
Italian: rissa (it) f bagarre (it) f
Russian: сты́чка (ru) f (stýčka), дра́ка (ru) f (dráka), потасо́вка (ru) f (potasóvka)
Spanish: pelea (es) f
References[edit]
(a shave; butter): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary
Anagrams[edit]
CASREP, Casper, Pacers, Scaper, capers, crapes, e-scrap, escarp, pacers, parsec, recaps, scaper, secpar, spacer
Scrapping vs Scraping – What’s the difference? | WikiDiff
scrapping | scraping |
As verbs the difference between scrapping and scraping is that scrapping is while scraping is. As nouns the difference between scrapping and scraping is that scrapping is the act by which something is scrapped while scraping is the act by which something is scraped.
Other Comparisons: What’s the difference?
English
Noun
(en noun)
The act by which something is scrapped.
* 1993, N. Wijnolst,? C. Peeters,? P. Liebman, European shortsea shipping (page 11)
The number of ship scrappings over the past five years has declined appreciably on an annual basis since the mid-1980s which was a period of intense shipbreaking activity.
The act by which something is scraped.
* 2003, Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places (page 30)
We explored the basement, wherein she had so often heard heavy footsteps, thuddings, and scrapings.
What has been removed when something has been scraped.
the scrapings of roads and ditches
Types of Scraping Techniques | How to Prevent Scraping – Radware Bot …
Scraping is the act of extracting data or information from websites with or without the consent of the website owner. Scraping can be done manually, but in most cases it’s done automatically because of its efficiency. Scraping of content or prices is mostly carried out with malicious intent, and there are several techniques used to scrape content.
Manual scraping
Copy-pasting
Manual scraping involves copying and pasting web content, which takes a lot of effort and is highly repetitive in the way it is carried out. This is an effective way of stealing content when the website’s defense mechanisms are tuned to only detect automated scraping bots. However, manual scraping is rarely seen in practice, due to the fact that automated scraping is far quicker and cheaper to carry out.
Automated Scraping
HTML Parsing: HTML parsing is done using JavaScript, and targets linear or nested HTML pages. This fast and robust method is used for text extraction, link extraction (such as nested links or email addresses), screen scraping, resource extraction, and so on.
DOM Parsing: The Document Object Model, or DOM, defines the style, structure and the content within XML files. DOM parsers are generally used by scrapers that want to get an in-depth view of the structure of a web page. Scrapers can use a DOM parser to get the nodes containing information, and then use a tool such as XPath to scrape web pages. Full-fledged web browsers like Internet Explorer or Firefox can be embedded to extract the entire web page or just parts of it, even if the content generated is dynamic in nature.
Vertical Aggregation: Vertical aggregation platforms are created by companies with access to large-scale computing power to target specific verticals. Some companies even run these data harvesting platforms on the cloud. Creation and monitoring of bots for specific verticals is carried out by these platforms with virtually no human intervention. Since the bots are created automatically based on the knowledge base for the specific vertical, their efficiency is measured by the quality of data extracted.
XPath: XML Path Language, or XPath, is a query language that works on XML documents. Since XML documents are based on a tree-like structure, XPath can be used to navigate across the tree by selecting nodes based on a variety of parameters. XPath can be used in conjunction with DOM parsing to extract an entire web page and publish it at the destination website.
Google Sheets: Google Sheets can be used as a scraping tool, and it’s quite popular among scrapers. From within Sheets, a scraper can use the IMPORTXML (, ) function to scrape data from websites. This is useful when the scraper wants specific data or patterns to be extracted from a website. You can use this command to check if your website is scrape-proof.
Text Pattern Matching: This is a regular expression-matching technique using the UNIX grep command and is usually clubbed with popular programming languages like Perl or Python.
There are several web scraping tools and services available online, and scrapers need not know all of the above techniques unless they want to do the scraping themselves. There are tools such as cURL, Wget, HTTrack,,, and several others that are highly automated. Scrapers also use automated headless browsers such as,, for scraping purposes.
How to Prevent Web Scraping
Scraping with the intent of stealing data is illegal and unethical. Owners of online businesses should take every possible step to continuously protect their websites and apps from scraper bots to protect their brand and retain their competitive edge. The sophisticated, human-like bots prevalent today give scrapers many options to scrape web content without detection. This is why a dedicated bot management solution is essential to deter scraping and even more serious threats such as account takeover and application DDoS on websites and apps. For a more in-depth look at scraping attacks, read our e-book ‘Deconstructing Large Scale Distributed Scraping Attacks’.
Frequently Asked Questions about define scraping
What does scraping mean slang?
(slang) A fight, especially a fistfight without weapons. He got in a scrape with the school bully.
Is it scraping or scrapping?
As nouns the difference between scrapping and scraping is that scrapping is the act by which something is scrapped while scraping is the act by which something is scraped.
What is meant by data scraping?
Data scraping, in its most general form, refers to a technique in which a computer program extracts data from output generated from another program. Data scraping is commonly manifest in web scraping, the process of using an application to extract valuable information from a website.
