scrape the bottom of the barrel

动词 v.
中文释义

英文释义

动词 v.
  1. To settle for a poor option due to a lack or unavailability of anything more favorable. idiomatic,informal
    — They must really have been scraping the bottom of the barrel if they couldn't find a better design than that.

词形变化

scrapes the bottom of the barrel present,singular,third-person scraping the bottom of the barrel participle,present scraped the bottom of the barrel participle,past scraped the bottom of the barrel past

词源

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.
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