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scraping

scraping

1 9.9
A deep bow made by moving one foot back to show respect
  • noun
  • Archaic
: 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

bowing
vsscraping
8 2.7

Bending the head or upper body forward to show respect

is a more specific deep foot backward gesture showing excessive humility
kneeling
vsscraping
4 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
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
scrape
vsscraping
  • Archaic
1 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

Antonyms

131 4.8

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

129 3.4

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

How Respectful

prostration
2 9.0
scraping
  • Archaic
1 9.9
bow
74 1.0
nod
122 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.