scoured

[ skouuhrd, skou-erd ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

cleansed or polished by hard rubbing, as with a rough or abrasive material:
American society, through advertising, associates the scent of lemon with a freshly scoured kitchen.
cleared or dug out, as by the force of water, glaciers, etc.:
Muskeget Channel, located between Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, is a deeply scoured channel with strong tidal currents.
(of cotton, wool, etc.) cleaned or made free of impurities, debris, etc., by or as if by washing:
When dried, the scoured wool is usually carded and combed before the process of spinning.
cleared or made free of anything undesirable; cleansed:
It is from a scoured soul and a sober heart that prayer is engaged.

Origin of scoured¹

There is a large area to be scoured and the amount of time the airplane can spend over its assigned zone is critical.

Once the sand was plowed back onto the beaches, volunteers scoured it for any flotsam that got through the sifting machines.

Nasaw has had full access to family documents and scoured the archives.

My captors scoured the web for information about me and discovered our history in Bosnia.

Investigators scoured the area over the weekend, questioning her family and friends.

The day dawned with a steady drizzle of rain, and, after a poor attempt at breakfast, I scoured the neighbourhood for a taxi.

They scoured every main artery and side road and cart track for miles in every direction, he and Johnny the Itch.

Again the smoothbore roared and a handful of balls scoured another thicket.

The loyalist forces now scoured the insurgent districts, and it was found impossible to prevent many excesses from taking place.

He supposed they had scoured all Jursa for a real beauty to dazzle him; but they would discover that it would not work.

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