scour
Definitions
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Pantagruel Arose to Scour the Thicket--4-36-474 -
WordNet 3.6
- v scour rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid "flush the wound with antibiotics","purge the old gas tank"
- v scour clean with hard rubbing "She scrubbed his back"
- v scour rub hard or scrub "scour the counter tops"
- v scour examine minutely "The police scoured the country for the fugitive"
- n scour a place that is scoured (especially by running water)
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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- Scour 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."
- Scour Diarrhœa or dysentery among cattle.
- Scour The act of scouring.
- Scour To be purged freely; to have a diarrhœa.
- Scour To clean anything by rubbing.
- Scour To cleanse anything. "Warm water is softer than cold, for it scoureth better."
- Scour To cleanse or clear, as by a current of water; to flush. "If my neighbor ought to scour a ditch."
- Scour 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."
- Scour To purge; as, to scour a horse.
- Scour 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." - Scour 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.
- Scour 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."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- scour To cleanse by hard rubbing; clean by friction; make clean and bright on the surface by rubbing; brighten.
- scour To cleanse from grease and dirt by rubbing or scrubbing thoroughly with soap, washing, rinsing, etc.; cleanse by scrubbing and the use of certain chemical appliances: as, to scour blankets, carpets, articles of dress, etc.; to scour woolens.
- scour To cleanse or clean out by flushing, or by a violent flood of water.
- scour To purge thoroughly or with violence; purge drastically.
- scour To cleanse thoroughly in any way; free entirely from impurities, or whatever obstructs or is undesirable; clear; sweep clear; rid.
- scour To remove by scouring; cleanse away; obliterate; efface.
- scour To run over and scatter; clean out.
- scour To rub a surface for the purpose of cleansing it.
- scour To cleanse cloth; remove dirt or grease from a texture.
- scour To be purged thoroughly or violently; use strong purgatives.
- n scour The clearing action of a strong, swift current through a narrow channel; the removal of more or less of the material at the bottom of a river or tidal channel by the action of a current of water flowing over it with sufficient velocity to produce this effect.
- n scour A kind of diarrhea or dysentery among cattle or other animals; violent purging.
- n scour The material used in scouring or cleansing woolens, etc.
- scour To run with celerity; scamper; scurry off or along.
- scour To rove or range for the purpose of sweeping or taking something.
- scour To run quickly over or along, especially in quest or as if in quest of something.
- scour To pass through the soil without the latter adhering, the blade being thus rubbed bright: said of an agricultural implement.
- n scour The violent removal of sand by the wind, especially when it blows through a funnel-shaped pass or canon.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- v.t Scour skowr to clean by rubbing with something rough: to cleanse from grease or dirt: to remove by rubbing: to cleanse by a current: to search thoroughly by scrubbing: to cleanse by brushing: to purge drastically
- n Scour the action of a strong current in a narrow channel: violent purging
- v.i Scour skowr to run with swiftness: to scurry along
- v.t Scour to run quickly over
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Quotations
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“Some slaves are scoured to their work by whips, others by their restlessness and ambition.”
Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Akin to LG. schüren, D. schuren, schueren, G. scheuern, Dan. skure,; Sw. skura,; all possibly fr. LL. escurare, fr. L. ex, + curare, to take care. Cf. Cure
Usage
In literature:
On three successive afternoons, O'Hara and Moriarty scoured the downs, and on each occasion they drew blank.
"The Gold Bat" by P. G. Wodehouse
He then scoured the whole country, sparing only those who preserved their lives by the surrender of their wealth.
"History of Rome from the Earliest times down to 476 AD" by Robert F. Pennell
In speed we can outrun the heavy armed Roman soldiers with ease, but their cavalry will scour the plain.
"Beric the Briton" by G. A. Henty
Rewards had been offered, the country had been scoured, but no Injun Joe was found.
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 6." by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
They will find out then that you have escaped, and will no doubt scour the country.
"Rujub, the Juggler" by G. A. Henty
It is annoying and difficult to scour around after hogs, in armor.
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 4." by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
My surprise was great: the place was newly swept and scoured.
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 5." by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
They had no doubt been scouring the country generally, and the discovery was accidental.
"Among Malay Pirates" by G. A. Henty
They launched themselves through the open entrance, gained the space beyond, and scoured away to the battlefield.
"The Last Of The Barons, Complete" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Like the rooks, too, they are privileged to scour over the farmers' fields all round home, and play the very devil.
"The Attache" by Thomas Chandler Haliburton
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In poetry:
Sedate and proud old cities,—
Loved well enough by me,
Then how should I be yearning
To scour the earth and sea.
Loved well enough by me,
Then how should I be yearning
To scour the earth and sea.
"The Cross-Current" by Abbie Farwell Brown
He'll wash thee in the cleansing flood
Of his dear Son's most precious blood,
And scour away thy vices quite,
'Till he has made thee lily-white.
Of his dear Son's most precious blood,
And scour away thy vices quite,
'Till he has made thee lily-white.
"Advice To Those Who Are Desirous Of Obtaining God's Favour, And Forgiveness Of Their Sins" by Rees Prichard
Still, still shall last the dreadful chase,
Till time itself shall have an end;
By day, they scour earth's cavern'd space,
At midnight's witching hour, ascend.
Till time itself shall have an end;
By day, they scour earth's cavern'd space,
At midnight's witching hour, ascend.
"The Wild Huntsman" by Sir Walter Scott
A deluge billow scoured the land off seas,
With widened jaws, and slaughter was its foam.
For food, for clothing, ambush, refuge, home,
The lesser savage offered bogs and trees.
With widened jaws, and slaughter was its foam.
For food, for clothing, ambush, refuge, home,
The lesser savage offered bogs and trees.
"Forest History" by George Meredith
As fierce they scour along the flow'ry mead,
Shrinks Nature's face before the brushing sweep;
Till bleak and bare he sits in tarnish'd weed,
And all her sympathetic votaries weep.
Shrinks Nature's face before the brushing sweep;
Till bleak and bare he sits in tarnish'd weed,
And all her sympathetic votaries weep.
"Time: An Elegy. Written Near The Ruins Of Elgin Cathedral" by Robert Alves
All the wide world have I search'd for my darling;
Scour'd the far desert and sail'd distant seas.
Once on the wave while the tempest was snarling,
Flash'd a fair face that brought quiet and ease.
Scour'd the far desert and sail'd distant seas.
Once on the wave while the tempest was snarling,
Flash'd a fair face that brought quiet and ease.
"The Bride Of The Sea" by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
In news:
We've been hearing whispers of Beyoncé's new braided do all week—and by whispers we mean we've scoured the Internets for sketchy pixelated images of the back of her head at a Nas party (What.
Investigators scour data, records show.
Scouring the Web for all things Brooklyn .
A search team scoured the area, and a helicopter found his body early Sunday morning.
When I'm in full shopping mode, I'll scour the web for hours.
"We did the legwork so that they can compare them 'apples-to-apples' without scouring several websites for the information.".
Classes are even offered to financial professionals on "how to find investable assets" by scouring through a client's tax return.
Daybreak Daily's afternoon scouring of the pop-culture pans finds a name that sounds strangely familiar, some Al Green bars, other things, and the mystery music video.
More than 70 children and their parents scour Salem's K-mart store cramming their carts with toys for needy children.
Candidates scoured the state for last-minute votes over the weekend as they headed for the finish line.
And for those who might need an incentive to scour their bills, the new statements promise a reward of up to $1,000 for a tip that leads to uncovering fraud.
Joseph Caramadre has spent a lifetime scouring the fine print .
To help take your mind off the mess I've scoured the web (www.aprilfoolzone.com) for some of the best April fools pranks.
FBI to scour California well for more 'Speed Freak ' victims.
Hale 's departure now leaves the Orioles to fill his role, a search that might take a while since staffs in Toronto, Boston, and Cleveland have scoured other staffs to assemble their own.
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In science:
Astronomical observations demonstrate conclusively that T-Tauri-type outbursts can be of sufficient magnitude to scour the terrestrial-planet region of our Solar System.
Nature of Planetary Matter and Magnetic Field Generation in the Solar System
This is consistent with the picture that cores in giant ellipticals are scoured by SMBH binary inspirals during successive merger events – assuming only that relaxation times are long enough in those systems for the results from different mergers to be cumulative.
Mergers of Unequal Mass Galaxies: Supermassive Black Hole Binary Evolution and Structure of Merger Remnants
But at the same time, no-one knows what the full luminosity range of systems that might be generated by “core-scouring” look like, nor what the kinematics of those ob jects might be, particularly if the initial mergers are of unequal mass, and some amount of gas (as in “damp” mergers) is present in the first steps.
Cores and the Kinematics of Early-Type Galaxies
Scouring our computer calculations, we have found an example of each of the possibilities for bad curves enumerated in the previous section, and so all of these possibilities do indeed occur.
The maximum number of points on a curve of genus 4 over F_8 is 25
The accompanying erosion scoured off in excess of 5000 feet of the sedimentary rock that covers other parts of the Great Plains, exposing the dome.
Reference Design Project Book: NUSEL-Homestake
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