scarp

English

Etymology

Aphetic form of escarp. Doublet of sharp.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /skɑːp/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /skɑɹp/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)p

Noun

scarp (plural scarps)

1. The steep artificial slope below a fort's parapet.
2. (geology) A cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge caused by erosion or faulting; the steeper side of an escarpment.
   • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)[1]

     Sweating under the sun, we scale the barren eastern scarp of the Great Rift Valley (Area B), edging carefully around controversial, razor-wired Israeli settlements (Area C).

3. (heraldry) Obsolete spelling of scarpe, scrape.
   • 1673, Matthew Carter, Honor Redivivus: Or, The Analysis of Honor and Armory, page 211:

     [...] as in the seventh, which is Argent a Scarp Azure.

   • 1724, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldry, page 38:

     He beareth Argent, a Scarp, Azure.

Derived terms

• anti-scarp
• counterscarp
• fault scarp

Translations

artificial slope

• Bulgarian: скарп m (skarp)
• Finnish: eskarppi (fi)
• French: escarpe (fr) f

cliff caused by erosion

• Bulgarian: стръмен склон m (strǎmen sklon)
• Finnish: jyrkänne (fi)
• German:

  Alemannic German: Flueh f

• Hungarian: szakadásfal
• Irish: scairp f
• Polish: skarpa (pl) f

Verb

scarp (third-person singular simple present scarps, present participle scarping, simple past and past participle scarped)

1. (earth science, geography, transitive) to cut, scrape, erode, or otherwise make into a scarp or escarpment

   to scarp the face of a ditch or a rock

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “(please specify |part=Prologue or Rpilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX)”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

     From scarped cliff and quarried stone

   • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “May-Day”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 38:

     For thou, O Spring! canst renovate / All that high God did first create. / […] / Sweep ruins from the scarped mountain, / Cleanse the torrent at the fountain, […]

Anagrams

• APCRs, Carps, RSPCA, carps, craps, parcs, pracs, scrap

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *skarp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz.

Adjective

scarp

1. sharp

Inflection

Declension of scarp (a-stem)

strong declension
case	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	scarp	scarp	scarp	scarpa, scarpe
accusative	scarpan, scarpen	scarpa	scarp	scarpa, scarpe
genitive	scarpes	scarpero	scarpes	scarpero
dative	scarpin, scarpemo	scarpero	scarpin, scarpemo	scarpon
weak declension
case	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	scarpo	scarpa	scarpa	scarpon
accusative	scarpon	scarpon	scarpa	scarpon
genitive	scarpin	scarpon	scarpin	scarpono
dative	scarpin	scarpon	scarpin	scarpon

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: scharp
  • Dutch: scherp
    • Afrikaans: skerp
    • Berbice Creole Dutch: skarpu
    • Negerhollands: skerp
    • Skepi Creole Dutch: skarp
    • → Papiamentu: skèrpi, skerpi, scherpi
    • →? Sranan Tongo: srapu
      • → Saramaccan: saápu
  • Limburgish: sjèrp

References

• “skarp”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Romanian

Noun

scarp m (plural scarpi)

1. Obsolete form of scarpă.

Declension

Declension of scarp

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	scarp	scarpul		scarpi	scarpii
genitive-dative	scarp	scarpului		scarpi	scarpilor
vocative	scarpule			scarpilor

References

• scarp in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN