outscrape

O1U1T1S1C3R1A1P3E1

verb

To escape

Scrabble 13

Meanings

verboutscrape (third-person singular simple present outscrapes, present participle outscraping, simple past and past participle outscraped)

present singular third person outscrapes · participle present outscraping · participle past outscraped · past outscraped

  1. ScotlandintransitiveobsoleteTo escape
  2. raretransitiveTo scrape out

    The chairs were five degrees above Windsor, the carpet was ingrain, with huge circles, whose outlines were nearly outscraped, it having been stamped under foot for many years before Madam Tag had forced it to do a passive duty in her oracular chambers.

    1844, The Family of the Seisers: A Satirical Tale of the City of New York
  3. transitiveTo scrape better than; exceed or outdo in scraping

    Separation has only led to forced mobility, traffic congestion, anti-human city centres with one concrete office tower outscraping the next, subsidized and shoddy public transport etc.

    1974, The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa
    1 more example

    But there was neither harmony nor melody in their tones, for they belonged to the different stages and shows ; and if the musicians agreed in any thing, it seemed only in the efforts which they made to outscrape, outscreech, outblow and outdrum each other.

    1837, Mary Martha Sherwood, The history of Henry Milner, page 217

Origin

  1. Middle Englishoutscrapen“to remove, erase”
  2. Englishoutscrape

From out- + scrape, or possibly continuing Middle English outscrapen (“to remove, erase”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

outscrape. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outscrape

MLA

“outscrape.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outscrape. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “outscrape,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outscrape.

Source: outscrape on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.