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scraping

scraping

1 9.9
A deep bow made by moving one foot back to show respect
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : reverencia
  • All of their bowing and scraping was directed toward an end that justified the means.
  • bowing and scraping

Examples

  • Ours was designed to be a life of servitude and worship and bowing and scraping and adoration.

  • The artist took a deep scraping before presenting her work to the critics.

  • In ancient cultures, a formal scraping was a sign of great respect toward leaders.

  • His scraping was so profound that it left an impression on everyone in the audience.

Synonyms

kneeling
vsscraping
9 2.0

Being on your knees as a sign of respect or worship

is specifically a backward foot deep bow not simply being on the knees
scrape
vsscraping
  • Archaic
8 9.9

A deep formal bow made by moving one foot back to show respect

is the identical traditional gesture described using a different term
bowing
vsscraping
1 2.7

Bending the head or upper body forward to show respect

is a more specific deep foot backward gesture showing excessive humility
kowtow
vsscraping
1 9.9

An act of kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground to show deep respect

is a deep foot backward bow rather than touching forehead to ground ritual

Antonyms

133 4.8

Being too proud and acting as if you are better than others

133 3.4

Rude behavior or words that show a lack of respect for someone

How Respectful

prostration
1 9.0
scraping
  • Archaic
1 9.9
bow
53 1.0
nod
131 1.0

Surface Forms

scraping singular
scrapings plural

Morphology

scraping = scrape (opaque) = scrape + ing

The specialized sense 'a deep bow' is a cultural/more idiomatic usage not predictable from the core meaning 'to scrape', so the relation is not derivable for average learners.

Etymology

Scraping once described a very low bow because people would 'scrape' their shoe or foot on the floor when they bowed, and so scraping came to mean that deep, overly humble show of respect.