Meanings
present singular third person scrapes the bottom of the barrel · participle present scraping the bottom of the barrel · participle past scraped the bottom of the barrel · past scraped the bottom of the barrel
- idiomaticinformalTo settle for a poor option due to a lack or unavailability of anything more favorable.
They must really have been scraping the bottom of the barrel if they couldn't find a better design than that.
2 more examples
The bottom of the barrel was scraped on August 22 when Shrewsbury had to produce Taunton 2-6-0 No. 6312 to work the 8.10 p.m. from Paddington between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury; the stranger was in trouble in the early hours of the next morning at Hollinswood, but managed to reach Shrewsbury.
1961 October, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 635We have so few ships that are mission—ready, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. We are to the point where three damaged ships are being stripped to make one flyable ship.
2004, Ronald Carey, The War Above the Trees, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 259Synonyms: scrape the barrel
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo settle for a poor option due to a lack or unavailability of anything more favorable.
Origin
Derived from the historical practice in the early European history of storing food in barrels; when food supplies ran low, only what was on the very bottom of the barrel remained, and had to be removed by scraping. Oil in a barrel has different fractions with a different weight. The heavier fractions like asphaltum sink to the bottom of the barrel and can be difficult to scrape from the bottom.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish kaapia laarin pohjia, tyytyä rippeisiin
- kaapia laarin pohjiaTranslations
- tyytyä rippeisiinTranslations
German den letzten Rest zusammenkratzen
- den letzten Rest zusammenkratzenTranslations
Polish brać, co jest pod ręką, wziąć, co jest pod ręką
- brać, co jest pod rękąTranslations
- wziąć, co jest pod rękąTranslations
- zadowalać się byle czymTranslations
- zadowolić się byle czymTranslations
Russian скрести по сусекам
- скрести по сусекам (skresti po susekam)Translations
Welsh crafu gwaelod y gasgen
- crafu gwaelod y gasgenTranslations
Cite this entry
scrape the bottom of the barrel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrape%20the%20bottom%20of%20the%20barrel
“scrape the bottom of the barrel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrape%20the%20bottom%20of%20the%20barrel. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scrape the bottom of the barrel,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrape%20the%20bottom%20of%20the%20barrel.
Source: scrape the bottom of the barrel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.