Dictionary-Definition.com :: Scour definition

Definition of 'scour'

noun

A place that is scoured (especially by running water)

verb

Examine minutely; "The police scoured the country for the fugitive"

verb

Clean with hard rubbing; "She scrubbed his back" [syn: scrub, scour]

verb

Rub hard or scrub; "scour the counter tops" [syn: scour, abrade]

verb

Rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid; "flush the wound with antibiotics"; "purge the old gas tank" [syn: flush, scour, purge]

From: GCIDE

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]

From: 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]

From: GCIDE

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.]