scrape up an acquaintance

Idioms

Make an effort to become familiar with someone, especially for one's own benefit. For example, He scraped up an acquaintance with the college president in hopes of getting his son admitted. This term uses scrape in the sense of “gather with difficulty” (also see under scare up). Originally put as scrape acquaintance, it was first recorded in 1600.

Example Sentences

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scrape up an acquaintance

Although Piotr Matov met Ostrov under unfriendly circumstances, Ostrov managed to scrape up an acquaintance even with him.

From The Created Legend by Cournos, John

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023