scrape the barrel
Use final resources
To scrape the barrel is to resort to the last and least desirable options when better ones have been exhausted.
The image is of reaching the dregs at the bottom of a container: After interviewing dozens of candidates, we're scraping the barrel now.
Often appears as scrape the bottom of the barrel.
- desperationUtter loss of hope
- last resortFinal available option
- last gaspFinal desperate attempt
- at wits endMentally exhausted, clueless
- depletionReduction of supply
resorting · dregs · dire straits · slim pickings · thin on the ground · make do · making ends meet · clutch at straws · grasp at straws · deficiency · shortage · hard up · exhaustion · running on empty · famine · poverty · lack · dredging up
scrape the barrelcherry-pick
Select only favorable items
cream of the crop · pick of the litter · handpick · best of the best · crème de la crème
scrape, barrel, scraped, scraper, scrapers, scraping, scrapings, barrels, barreled