scratching out

Lady Delacour never raised her eyes whilst Belinda spoke, but went on scratching out some words in what she was writing.

Meerkats live in large colonies, almost like rabbits, each animal scratching out for itself a deep hole in the ground.

She was already scratching out the offending words with a sharp penknife, and daintily rewriting them.

They have these little dirt farmers scratching out just enough food for the family and maybe raising a quarter-acre of poppy.

It is a fault which one commits the moment watchfulness is relaxed, and entails much scratching out.