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scrape together

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scrape someone or something together

 and scrape someone or something up

Fig. to find and collect something; to locate and assemble a group of people or things. (Based on scrape something up.) Fm sure we can scrape up someone for the job. Mary scraped a few dollars together for some new books. John barely scraped up enough money to pay his rent.

See also: scrape, together

scrape something together

to gather things together by scraping. The waiter scraped all the crumbs together and removed them from the table with a little gadget. Karen scraped together all the trimmings and set them aside.

See also: scrape, together

scrape together something

also scrape something together

to gather something that is not easily available, esp. money He managed to scrape together $20 for the train and came back home. Many immigrants have difficulty scraping enough money together for the application.

Usage notes: also in the form scrape up something: Somehow these families managed to scrape up the tuition fee.

Related vocabulary: scare up something

See also: scrape, together

scrape together

v.

To accumulate or produce something with difficulty: We scraped together just enough cash to pay for the pizza. The kitchen was so empty that we could barely scrape a meal together.

See also: scrape, together