scour
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
medicine
natural-sciences
pathology
sciences
veterinary
zoology
Etymology: From Middle English scǒuren (“to polish, scour; to clean; to beat, whip”), from Middle Dutch scuren, schuren (“to clean; to polish”) or Middle Low German schǖren, of uncertain origin but probably from Old French escurer, from Medieval Latin scūrō, escūrō, excūrō (“to clean off”), from ex- (“thoroughly”) + cūrō (“to arrange, see to, take care of”), from cūra (“care, concern”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (“to heed”)) + -ō.
The word is cognate with Danish skure, Middle High German schüren, schiuren (modern German scheuern (“to scour, scrub; to chafe”)), Norwegian skura (“to scrub”), Swedish skura, Catalan escurar.
Inflected forms:
form: scours
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: scouring
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: scoured
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: scoured
pos: verb
tags: past
form: scower
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: scours
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: scower
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To clean, polish, or wash (something) by rubbing and scrubbing it vigorously, frequently with an abrasive or cleaning agent.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He scoured the burnt food from the pan.
If tranſcribers and printers, or editors, will be perpetually varying from the ſpelling of their author, we ſhall neceſſarily have a conſtant ſource of corruption: for by this alteration, which inſenſibly goes on from ſmaller to greater things, that antique caſt is loſt, which of itſelf carries ſo venerable an aſpect; and our modern editors, in this reſpect, reſemble the officious ſervant of the late learned antiquary Dr. Woodward, who in ſcowering off the ruſt from an old ſhield, which his maſter had juſt purchaſed, made it more reſemble the new ſcowered cover of an old kettle, than the ſhield of an ancient heroe.
They all looked directly at the ſcullion,—the ſcullion had juſt been ſcouring a fiſh-kettle.
A light brown sand, of an exceeding fine grain, almost impalpable, from the river Sullane, near New-bridge, where it is found in plenty. It scours brass without scratching, cleans silver, and is excellent for casting the finer works, both of the brazier and silversmith.
There were the tawny rocks, like lions couchant, defying the ocean, whose waves incessantly dashed against and scoured them with vast quantities of gravel.
gloss: To remove debris and dirt (from something) by purging; to sweep along or off by a current of water.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I will redeeme all this on Percies head, / And in the cloſing of ſome glorious day / Be bold to tell you that I am your ſonne, / When I will weare a garment all of bloud, / And ſtaine my fauors in a bloudy maske, / Which waſht away ſhall ſcoure my ſhame with it, […]
It has already been explained that the ebb tide in the Hooghly is a much more powerful scouring agent than the flood tide, that the tide therefore should be used for scouring a channel in preference to the flood whenever it is practicable to use it, hence it is to the body of ebbing water that scours out the fine channel from Akelmeg to Crossing Creek that attention will be principally directed, and not to the flood that scours the channel near the Roopnarain entrance.
gloss: To clear the digestive tract (of an animal) by administering medication that induces defecation or vomiting; to purge.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to scour a horse
gloss: To (cause livestock to) suffer from diarrhoea or dysentery.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: If a lamb is scouring, do not delay treatment.
It has been stated by trustworthy authorities that certain waters in the lias-formation possess scouring properties. […] Mr. Clarke likewise mentions two cases. "In one instance," he says, "a large piece of pasture-land was found to scour the cows kept upon it, to the great loss of the occupier, until he hit upon the expedient of cutting off the supply of spring-water from a neighbouring brook, and confining the supply to the rain-water held in the ditches,—the result of which has been that very little of the disorder has since appeared upon the land referred to.[…]"
gloss: To cleanse (something) without rubbing.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
obsolete
examples: It is reported, that in ſome Lakes, the Water is ſo Nitrous, as if Foule Cloathes be put into it, it ſcoureth them of it ſelfe: And if they ſtay any whit long, they moulder away. And the Scouring Vertue of Nitre is the more to be noted, becauſe it is a Body Cold; And wee ſee Warme Water ſcoureth better than Cold.
Flanders soap is the substance which appeared to act in the most advantageous manner; it scowers very speedily, and gives wool a degree of whiteness which it is extremely difficult to produce by any other means.
gloss: The removal of sediment caused by swiftly moving water.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Bridge scour may scoop out scour holes and compromise the integrity of the structure.
The general manner of working this sluice is to take in every alternate tide during the high tides in dry weather, and to let them off for scours for the harbour. In wet weather, or during neap tides, no scours are kept back, nor is it of any consequence to the harbour if no tides are suffered to pass up through the sluice at such times.
It is believed that scour, caused by record river flows as a result of snow melt and heavy rainfall, triggered the collapse of the Yellowstone Twin River Bridges in Stillwater County, Montana, on June 24.
gloss: A place scoured out by running water, as in the bed of a stream below a waterfall.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Fish as near the middle of the stream as you can in the spring months, and also on the shallows and scowers; but in the winter, in deep holes; let the bait drag two or three inches on the ground.
Trout always have a recognised home of their own, inhabited by a pretty fixed number of individuals. If you catch the two sole denizens of a particular scour, you will find another pair installed in their place to-morrow.
gloss: A place where wool is washed to remove grease and impurities prior to processing.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I am particularly interested in the wool processing indusries, which make a major contribution to the Hawke's Bay regional economy. There are five wool scours in the area, all of them located within the Hawke's Bay electorate. […] I am pleased to report that the prototype Drycom system was given its first full trial at the UEB Awatoto scour in Hawke's Bay.
gloss: Diarrhoea, in livestock; scouring.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The Cause and Nature of the Skit, or Scour, of Sheep and Lambs.
[…] lambs, and on the appearance of the skit or scour, the necessity for a change of food is indicated.
Related words: scullery
Derived words: scourage
scour down
scourer
scouring pad
scouring powder
scouring rush
scour out
scours
scour up
unscoured
black scour
ice scour
toe scour
white scour
Translations: