Word.ws English Dictionary

scrape and bow

scrape and bow is the alternative form of bow and scrape.

Meaning of bow and scrape

Verb

bow and scrape (third-person singular simple present bows and scrapes, present participle bowing and scraping, simple past and past participle bowed and scraped)

  1. To make a deep bow with the right leg drawn back (thus scraping the floor), left hand pressed across the abdomen, right arm held aside.
    Synonyms:
    make a leg
  2. (broadly, idiomatic) To behave in a servile, obsequious, or excessively polite manner.
    • But he is not one of those lawyers who bow and scrape before wealthy clients. He will not be pushed around.1988 March 27, Newgate Callendar, "Crime" (book review of The Vulgar Boatman by William G. Tapply), New York Times (retrieved 25 Nov 2012)

See all 3 meanings of bow and scrape

Forms of scrape and bow

third-person singular presentscrapes and bows
present participlescraping and bowing
past participlescraped and bowed
pastscraped and bowed

Questions about scrape and bow

What is scrape and bow the alternative form of?
Scrape and bow is the alternative form of bow and scrape.

Words near scrape and bow in the dictionary

  1. scrapbox
  2. scrapboxes
  3. scrape
  4. scrape acquaintance
  5. scrape along
  6. scrape and bow
  7. scrape at the bottom of the barrel
  8. scrape by
  9. scrape down
  10. scrape off
  11. scrape someone off the ceiling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scrape and bow (page history and authors); bow and scrape (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “scrape and bow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scrape_and_bow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.