subs. (common).—A fiddler. [From CATGUT, the material of which fiddle strings are made, + SCRAPER, one that rubs or scrapes. Sometimes simply SCRAPER or CATGUT; the latter of which is also used to signify the music produced. Also ROSIN-THE-BOW and TEASER OF THE CATGUT.

1

  1633.  MASSINGER, The Guardian, IV., ii. Wire-string and CAT-GUT, men and strong-breathed heautbois.  [M.]

2

  1785.  BURNS, The Jolly Beggars.

        Her charms had struck a sturdy caird,
  As weel’s a poor GUT-SCRAPER.

3

  1796.  WOLCOT (‘Peter Pindar’), Tristia, wks. (1812) V., 267.

        Behold! the CATGUT-SCRAPER with his crowd,
  Commands at will the house of hospitality.

4

  1851–61.  H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, vol. I., p. 21. Or they will call to the orchestra, saying, ‘Now then you CATGUT-SCRAPERS! Let’s have a ha’purth of liveliness.’

5