scrape-penny
Definition
Noun: - A miserly person: "scrape-penny" refers to someone who is extremely frugal and hoards or saves even the smallest amounts of money, often to the point of being stingy or parsimonious. This word is archaic and rarely used in modern English.
Usage Examples
- (A miserly person who saves even trivial amounts.)
- (A person who hoards money obsessively.)
Advanced Usage
- Historical context: "scrape-penny" was commonly used in 17th-19th century English literature to describe characters who were penny-pinching misers. It is now considered obsolete or dialectal.
- In Dickens' novels, a scrape-penny often appears as a comic or cautionary figure. (A miserly character in literature.)
Variants and Related Words
- Scrape (v): to rub or abrade a surface; also, to collect or gather with difficulty.
- He had to scrape together enough money for rent. (To gather with effort.)
- Penny (n): a small unit of currency; also, a trivial amount of money.
- She saved every penny for a rainy day. (Every small coin.)
Synonyms
- Miser: a person who hoards wealth and spends as little as possible.
- Skinflint: a stingy person who avoids spending money.
- Scrooge: a miserly character from Charles Dickens' ; used as a common term for a tight-fisted person.
Related Idioms
- Pinch pennies: to be extremely frugal or thrifty.
- He pinches pennies to save for his children's education. (He is very careful with spending.)
- A penny pincher: someone who is overly careful with money.
- She is such a penny pincher that she never buys new clothes. (A frugal person.)
Phrasal Verbs
- Scrape by: to manage to survive with very little money or resources.
- They scraped by on a meager salary during the recession. (They barely managed financially.)
- Scrape together: to collect or accumulate something, especially money, with difficulty.
- We scraped together enough cash for a train ticket. (We gathered money with effort.)