scarp

Aphetic form of escarp.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /skɑːp/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /skɑɹp/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)p

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; the steeper side of an escarpment
   • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)

     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).

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

   • Tennyson

     From scarped cliff and quarried stone

   • Emerson

     Sweep ruins from the scarped mountain

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