SCOUR • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Scour

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/skˈaʊər/ /skaʊr/ Listen

verb

Scour v. t. (past & past part. scoured; pres. part. scouring)

1.

To rub hard with something rough, as sand or Bristol brick, especially for the purpose of cleaning; to clean by friction; to make clean or bright; to cleanse from grease, dirt, etc., as articles of dress.

2.

To purge; as, to scour a horse.

3.

To remove by rubbing or cleansing; to sweep along or off; to carry away or remove, as by a current of water; often with off or away. "(I will) stain my favors in a bloody mask, Which, washed away, shall scour my shame with it."

4.

To pass swiftly over; to brush along; to traverse or search thoroughly; as, to scour the coast. "Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain."

5.

To cleanse or clear, as by a current of water; to flush. "If my neighbor ought to scour a ditch."

Scouring barrel, a tumbling barrel. See under Tumbling.

Scouring cinder (Metal.), a basic slag, which attacks the lining of a shaft furnace.

Scouring rush. (Bot.) See Dutch rush, under Dutch.

Scouring stock (Woolen Manuf.), a kind of fulling mill.

Scour v. i.

1.

To clean anything by rubbing.

2.

To cleanse anything. "Warm water is softer than cold, for it scoureth better."

3.

To be purged freely; to have a diarrhoea.

4.

To run swiftly; to rove or range in pursuit or search of something; to scamper. "So four fierce coursers, starting to the race, Scour through the plain, and lengthen every pace."

noun

Scour n.

1.

Diarrhoea or dysentery among cattle.

2.

The act of scouring.

3.

A place scoured out by running water, as in the bed of a stream below a fall. "If you catch the two sole denizens (trout) of a particular scour, you will find another pair installed in their place to-morrow."

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Etymology of 'Scour'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scour" Quotes from Famous Books

... sinking Clampherdown Heaved up her battered side— And carried a million pounds in steel, To the cod and the corpse-fed conger-eel, And the scour of the Channel tide. ...

— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling

... would think of, if we were discovered, would be to capture our boat, and while part of them were after us, the others would run to the river and gobble up boat, crew, and all. Then they would know that we were still on shore, and would scour the country to find us. But if the boat goes off to the vessel, the rebels will be more than half inclined to believe that we have gone off too, and, consequently, will not take the pains to hunt us which they ...

— Frank on the Lower Mississippi • Harry Castlemon

... never dare to let father know, either," she went on later; "he'd scour the world to find that man, and I should have to be locked up as a witness,"—she ...

— Kristy's Rainy Day Picnic • Olive Thorne Miller

... scienco. Scientific scienca. Scintillate brileti. Scissors tondilo. Scoff moki. Scold riprocxegi. Scoop kulerego. Scorbutic skorbuta. Scorch bruleti. Score dudeko. Scorn malestimo. Scorpion skorpio. Scotchman Skoto. Scoundrel kanajlo. Scour frotlavi. Scourge skurgxi. Scout antauxmarsxanto, antaux rajdanto. Scowl sulkegigxi. Scramble up suprenrampi. Scrap peceto. Scrape skrapi. Scrapings skrapajxo. Scratch grati. Scratch gratajxo. Scratch (claw) ungograti. Scream kriegi. Screen sxirmilo. Screw sxrauxbo. ...

— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes

... stopped herdsmen and pedlars and asked them where brigands were. They pointed to the mountains, and to the mountains he turned his face. He would join the band, provoke a quarrel with the chief, kill him and be made chief in his stead. Then he would scour the country in a velvet mask and a peaked hat with a feather in it, carrying fire and desolation everywhere. A price would be set on his head, but he would snap his fingers in the face of the Prime Minister. He would rule his followers with an iron hand. But now he was in the midst of the mountains, ...

— Orientations • William Somerset Maugham

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