scour

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: scrubabradeflushpurge

WordNet 3.0

Noun (1)

  1. a place that is scoured (especially by running water)

Verb (4)

  1. examine minutely“The police scoured the country for the fugitive”
  2. clean with hard rubbing“She scrubbed his back”Synonyms: scrub
  3. rub hard or scrub“scour the counter tops”Synonyms: abrade
  4. rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid“flush the wound with antibiotics”“purge the old gas tank”Synonyms: flushpurge
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Scour \Scour\, v. i.

1.To clean anything by rubbing. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2.To cleanse anything. [1913 Webster]

Warm water is softer than cold, for it scoureth better.— Bacon.[1913 Webster]

3.To be purged freely; to have a diarrhoea. [1913 Webster]

4.To run swiftly; to rove or range in pursuit or search of something; to scamper. [1913 Webster]

So four fierce coursers, starting to the race, Scour through the plain, and lengthen every pace.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]
Scour \Scour\ (skour), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scoured; p. pr. & vb. n. Scouring.] [Akin to LG. sch["u]ren, D. schuren, schueren, G. scheuern, Dan. skure; Sw. skura; all possibly fr. LL. escurare, fr. L. ex + curare to take care. Cf. Cure.]

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. [1913 Webster]

2.To purge; as, to scour a horse. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

[I will] stain my favors in a bloody mask, Which, washed away, shall scour my shame with it.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

4.[Perhaps a different word; cf. OF. escorre, escourre, It. scorrere, both fr. L. excurrere to run forth. Cf. Excursion.] To pass swiftly over; to brush along; to traverse or search thoroughly; as, to scour the coast. [1913 Webster]

Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain.— Pope.[1913 Webster]

5.To cleanse or clear, as by a current of water; to flush.

If my neighbor ought to scour a ditch.— Blackstone.[Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Scouring barrel, a tumbling barrel. See under Tumbling.

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

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

Scouring stock (Woolen Manuf.), a kind of fulling mill. [1913 Webster]

Scour \Scour\, n.

1.Diarrhoea or dysentery among cattle. [1913 Webster]

2.The act of scouring. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

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.— Grant Allen.[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
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