scrap

1
[ skrap ]
See synonyms for scrap on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a small piece or portion; fragment: a scrap of paper;scraps of cloth.

  2. scraps,

    • bits or pieces of food, especially of leftover or discarded food.

    • the remains of animal fat after the oil has been rendered; cracklings.

  1. a detached piece of something written or printed: scraps of poetry.

  2. broken, discarded, or rejected items or parts for use as raw material or in reprocessing, as old metal that can be melted and reworked:The two of them drive around collecting scrap to sell.

  3. chips, cuttings, fragments, or other small pieces of raw material removed, cut away, flaked off, etc., in the process of making or manufacturing an item:Their cutting process is faster, but have you seen the amount of scrap it generates?

adjective
  1. consisting of pieces or fragments.

  2. existing in the form of fragments or remnants of use only for reworking, as metal.

  1. discarded or left over:She was fashioning a toy out of some scrap wood.

verb (used with object),scrapped, scrap·ping.
  1. to break up into pieces for discarding or reworking: to scrap old cars.

  2. to discard as useless, worthless, or ineffective: He urged that we scrap the old method of teaching mathematics.

Origin of scrap

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English noun scrappe “scrap of food,” from Old Norse skrap, derivative of skrapa “to scrape

Other words from scrap

  • scrap·ping·ly, adverb

Other definitions for scrap (2 of 2)

scrap2
[ skrap ]

noun
  1. a fight or quarrel: She got into a scrap with her in-laws.

verb (used without object),scrapped, scrap·ping.
  1. to engage in a fight or quarrel.

Origin of scrap

2
First recorded in 1670–80; variant of scrape

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for scrap (1 of 2)

scrap1

/ (skræp) /


noun
  1. a small piece of something larger; fragment

  2. an extract from something written

    • waste material or used articles, esp metal, often collected and reprocessed

    • (as modifier): scrap iron

  1. (plural) pieces of discarded food

verbscraps, scrapping or scrapped (tr)
  1. to make into scrap

  2. to discard as useless

Origin of scrap

1
C14: from Old Norse skrap; see scrape

British Dictionary definitions for scrap (2 of 2)

scrap2

/ (skræp) informal /


noun
  1. a fight or argument

verbscraps, scrapping or scrapped
  1. (intr) to quarrel or fight

Origin of scrap

2
C17: perhaps from scrape

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012