English
scour
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈskaʊə/
  • (GA) IPA: /ˈskaʊɚ/, /skaʊɹ/
Verb

scour (scours, present participle scouring; past and past participle scoured)

  1. (transitive) To clean#Verb|clean, polish#Verb|polish, or wash#Verb|wash something by rub#Verb|rubbing and scrub#Verb|scrubbing it vigorously, frequently with an abrasive#Noun|abrasive or cleaning#Adjective|cleaning agent.
    He scoured the burnt food from the pan.
    • 1762, [Laurence Sterne], chapter IX, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume V, London: Printed for T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], OCLC 959921544 ↗, page 52 ↗:
      They all looked directly at the ſcullion,—the ſcullion had juſt been ſcouring a fiſh-kettle.
  2. (transitive) To remove#Verb|remove debris and dirt by purging; to sweep#Verb|sweep along or off (by a current#Noun|current of water#Noun|water).
    • c. 1597, [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fovrth; […], quarto edition, London: Printed by P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, OCLC 932916628 ↗, [Act III, scene ii] ↗:
      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, {{...}
      I will redeem myself by defeating Percy, / And at the close of some glorious day, / [I will] be bold to tell you that I am your son, / When I will be covered in blood like wearing a garment, / And my face is stained with blood as if wearing a mask, / Which, when washed away, shall scour my shame with it, {{...}
  3. (transitive, veterinary medicine) To clear#Verb|clear the digestive tract by administering medication that induces defecation or vomiting#Noun|vomiting; to purge#Verb|purge.
    to scour a horse
  4. (ambitransitive, veterinary medicine) To (cause#Verb|cause livestock to) suffer from diarrhoea or dysentery.
    If a lamb is scouring, do not delay treatment.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To cleanse (without rub#Verb|rubbing).
    • 1627, [Francis Bacon], “IV. Century. [Experiment Solitary Touching Nitre [marginal note].]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: Published after the authors death, by VVilliam Rawley; printed by I[ohn] H[aviland and Augustine Mathewes] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044242069 ↗; Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: Published […] by VVilliam Rawley. Printed by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], 1631, OCLC 1044372886 ↗, paragraph 362, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t8v991c13;view=1up;seq=113 page 95]:
      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.
Conjugation


Conjugation of scour

infinitive (to) scour
present tense past tense
1st-person singular scourscoured
2nd-person singular* scour, scourest*scoured, scouredst*
3rd-person singularscours, scoureth* scoured#English|scoured
plural scour
subjunctive scour
imperative scour —
participle> participlesscouringscoured
* Archaic or obsolete.

Translations Translations Translations Noun

scour

  1. The removal of sediment cause#Verb|caused by swiftly moving#Adjective|moving water#Noun|water.
    Bridge scour may scoop out scour holes and compromise the integrity of the structure.
  2. A place scoured out by running#Adjective|running water, as in the bed#Noun|bed of a stream#Noun|stream below a waterfall.
  3. A place where wool is wash#Verb|washed to remove#Verb|remove grease#Verb|grease and impurities prior to processing#Noun|processing.
Translations Translations
  • German: Auswaschung, Erosionsfläche, Ausspülung, Kolk
Verb

scour (scours, present participle scouring; past and past participle scoured)

  1. (transitive) To search#Verb|search an area thoroughly.
    They scoured the scene of the crime for clues.
    • 1851 November 13, Herman Melville, “Knights and Squires”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299 ↗, page 131 ↗:
      Tashtego's long, lean, sable hair, his high cheek bones, and black rounding eyes— […] all this sufficiently proclaimed him an inheritor of the unvitiated blood of those proud warrior hunters, who, in quest of the great New England moose, had scoured, bow in hand, the aboriginal forests of the main.
  2. (ambitransitive) To run#Verb|run with speed#Noun|speed; to scurry.
    • 1697, “The First Book of the {{w”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432 ↗, lines 690–693, page 70 ↗:
      So four fierce Courſers ſtarting to the Race, / Scow'r thro' the Plain, and lengthen ev'ry Pace: / Nor Reigns, nor Curbs, nor threat'ning Cries they fear, / But force along the trembling Charioteer.
  3. (ambitransitive) To move#Verb|move swiftly over; to brush#Verb|brush along.
    • 1709, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: Printed for W. Lewis […], published 1711, OCLC 15810849 ↗, pages 22–23 ↗:
      When Ajax ſtrives, ſome Rock's vaſt Weight to throw, / The Line too labours, and the Words move ſlow; / Not ſo, when ſwift Camilla ſcours the plain, / Flies o'er th'unbending Corn, and skims along the Main.
Translations Translations
  • Italian: fuggire, darsela a gambe, schizzare via
Translations

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