scrap

¹

[ skrap ]

noun

1. a small piece or portion; fragment: scraps of cloth.

   a scrap of paper;

   scraps of cloth.

2. scraps,
   1. bits or pieces of food, especially of leftover or discarded food.
   2. the remains of animal fat after the oil has been rendered; cracklings.
3. a detached piece of something written or printed:

   scraps of poetry.

4. 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.

5. 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.
3. 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.

scrap

²

[ 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.

scrap

¹

/ skræp /

noun

1. a fight or argument

verb

1. intr to quarrel or fight

scrap

²

/ skræp /

noun

1. a small piece of something larger; fragment
2. an extract from something written
3. 1. waste material or used articles, esp metal, often collected and reprocessed
   2. ( as modifier )

      scrap iron

4. plural pieces of discarded food

verb

1. to make into scrap
2. to discard as useless

Other Words From

• scrap·ping·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of scrap¹

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

Origin of scrap²

First recorded in 1670–80; variant of scrape

Word History and Origins

Origin of scrap¹

C17: perhaps from scrape

Origin of scrap²

C14: from Old Norse skrap; see scrape

Example Sentences

But a lot of that stuff is just GOP orthodoxy now, with Project 2025 calling to scrap the DOE, sap the Fed’s powers, and return this country to the gold standard.

From Slate

Trump can do this with an executive order that rolls back environmental protections, which would allow him to halt clean energy projects and scrap climate targets set by the Biden administration.

From BBC

Ramaswamy meanwhile has put forward plans to scrap a number of federal departments including the Department of Education, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI.

From BBC

On rare occasions, Im would be lucky enough to buy a piece of candy by selling bottles or scrap rubber.

From Los Angeles Times

Almost as soon as they did, a bit of a scrap broke out between Zander Fagerson and Etzebeth.

From BBC

Related Words

• chunk
• fragment
• grain
• hunk
• lump
• morsel
• shred
• sliver
• snippet
• speck