Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

scour

[skou^uhr, skou-er]

verb (used with object)

to remove dirt, grease, etc., from or to cleanse or polish by hard rubbing, as with a rough or abrasive material: to scour pots and pans.

to remove (dirt, grease, etc.) from something by hard rubbing: to scour grease from pots and pans.

to clear or dig out (a channel, drain, etc.) as by the force of water, by removing debris, etc.

to purge thoroughly, as an animal.

to clear or rid of what is undesirable: to scour the nation of spies.

EXPAND

to remove by or as if by cleansing; get rid of.

to clean or rid of debris, impurities, etc., by or as if by washing, as cotton or wool.

Metallurgy. (of the contents of a blast furnace) to rub against and corrode (the refractory lining).

COLLAPSE

verb (used without object)

to rub a surface in order to cleanse or polish it.

10.

to remove dirt, grease, etc.

11.

to become clean and shiny.

12.

to be capable of being cleaned by rubbing: The roasting pan scours easily.

13.

(of a plow, cultivator, etc.) to pass through the ground without soil clinging to the blade.

EXPAND

14.

(of a plow, shovel, etc.) to become polished from use.

COLLAPSE

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Scour is always a great word to know.

So is force. Does it mean:

says a line linking a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal time

influence on a body or system that can produce effects such as change in movement or shape

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

noun

15.

the act of scouring.

16.

the place scoured.

17.

an apparatus or material used in scouring; scourer: Sand is a good scour.

18.

the erosive force of moving water, as in a river or sea.

19.

Usually, scours. (used with a singular or plural verb) Veterinary Pathology. diarrhea in horses and cattle caused by intestinal infection.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English scouren (v.) < Middle Dutch scūren < Old French escurer < Latin excūrāre to take care of (Medieval Latin escūrāre to clean), equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + cūrāre to care for

Synonyms
1. burnish, buff, shine, rub.

Example Sentences

Hedge funds looking to bet on a euro zone breakup scour his research reports for insights.

He's the tallest basketball player of all at this time, though surely not for long, as coaches scour the world for mega-humans.

Parents scour the lists pinned to the walls of youth centres and mosques.

EXPAND

Hedge funds looking to bet on a euro zone breakup scour his research reports for insights.

He's the tallest basketball player of all at this time, though surely not for long, as coaches scour the world for mega-humans.

Parents scour the lists pinned to the walls of youth centres and mosques.

Hours before the event, bomb-sniffing dogs scour the site.

Scientists scour the earth in search of miracle drugs.

Schoenstein mobilized his staff to scour the metropolitan area for the then-rare medicine and deliver it to the hospital.

Otherwise, you may want to scour the internet to find them.

There, they gathered thousands of pounds of rocks to anchor the flag against the ferocious winds that can scour the peaks here.

The fun begins when the rival sheikh approaches to scour the faces of his opponents.

The birds clock up serious air miles as they scour the southern oceans for food.

He's bringing a robotic archaeologist to scour the vessel.

Pomerantz hired a lease auditor to scour the lease and the rent bills for discrepancies.

They now scour the land, watching out for settler raids.

Scour your sink or basin and pot with baking soda or table salt and hot water.

Catch your breath, sharpen your focus and scour the seas and the skies for your futile attempt to escape us.

Scour them with a nylon pad or scrub brush, or wash them with a dishcloth.

Scour the world for suitable enzymes that speed up the whole process and deliver the molecular features being sought.

The increased speed could scour the bed, even during lower water.

The blades scour the skull of the shavee for a full twenty seconds before the indicator lights say that the torture is done.

Russian traders scour its wholesale shops for furs and boots.

Scour antique and thrift shops for interesting pieces.

Entrepreneurs were queuing up to scour rubbish for anything that could be recycled.

If there is no gown in your family, scour vintage and consignment shops to find a dress that can be altered to fit.

They employ teams of meteorologists to scour the world for the best places to put turbines.

And of course there are the cleaner fish, which set up stations to scour visiting fish free of parasites–and get a meal in return.

Now venture-capital firms scour campuses for ideas and sponsor business-plan contests.

They scour the globe for contemporary sculpture and.

Since bookstores often scour the country for used copies of books, they might be able to get a lot of copies.

Thieves scour the capital for vehicles that still have fuel in their tanks.

And yet the killing cold and hurricane gusts that scour its.

Grab the eggs from your chickens, scour the garden for fresh veggies snag local.

Its trick is to form partnerships with foreign universities and to scour the world for products that it can license.

As the north and south polar caps melts and the seas rise, fires and droughts scour the land.

Common guinea hens move in flocks kicking up dust as they scour the ground for insects.

She would scour her room before sleep, seal her windows with duct tape, and barricade the base of her door with a towel.

Videotape that used to take hours or days to scour is searched in minutes.

Evolution provides a remarkably effective way for the economy as a whole to scour this vast library for viable.

Nuthatches will scour the crevices of tree bark in search of insect eggs and grubs, for example.

There are people in the business who do nothing but scour newspapers and magazines for possible script ideas.

These plugins scour the web to provide lyrics for songs in your collection.

Husband-and-wife real estate developers with an eye for the unusual, they scour the flea markets.

Luckily you start the game with four mice to scour the castle for cheese.

Reality show that follows four professional buyers as they scour storage units for hidden treasure.

Bot aficionados scour poker manuals and online forums to cull the best strategies.

Next, try wiggling the tube in its sockets to scour away any corrosion or dust on the connections.

And it's supplemented by thousands of human censors who scour blogs, chat rooms, and everything else for offending content.

Jobless people are to be hired to scour forests for stumps and branches.

What's more, it can squeegee water, or scour and clean with a handy bristle-wheel attachment.

The police scour the surrounding parkland for roller-blade traces.

Warez traders scour the newsgroups every night, planting requests, downloading file parts they don't need.

Now, she is one of three recruiters who scour the country for nurses.

In these times, it's more difficult to scour up these additional dollars.

Troops had to scour through garbage dumps to find proper armor.

O'Connell and his team scour this city for the sick and homeless, administering.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to range over, as in a search: They scoured the countryside for the lost child.

to run or pass quickly over or along.

verb (used without object)

to range about, as in search of something.

to move rapidly or energetically.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English scouren; perhaps < Old Norse skūr shower¹

Synonyms
1. comb, rake, scan.

Link To scour

Collins

World English Dictionary

scour¹ (skaʊə)

—vb
1.	to clean or polish (a surface) by washing and rubbing, as with an abrasive cloth
2.	to remove dirt from or have the dirt removed from
3.	(tr) to clear (a channel) by the force of water; flush
4.	(tr) to remove by or as if by rubbing
5.	(intr) (of livestock, esp cattle) to have diarrhoea
6.	(tr) to cause (livestock) to purge their bowels
7.	(tr) to wash (wool) to remove wax, suint, and other impurities

—n
8.	the act of scouring
9.	the place scoured, esp by running water
10.	something that scours, such as a cleansing agent
11.	(often plural) prolonged diarrhoea in livestock, esp cattle

[C13: via Middle Low German schūren, from Old French escurer, from Late Latin excūrāre to cleanse, from cūrāre; see cure]

'scourer¹

—n

scour² (skaʊə)

—vb
1.	to range over (territory), as in making a search
2.	to move swiftly or energetically over (territory)

[C14: from Old Norse skūr]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

scour

"cleanse by rubbing," c.1300, from M.Du. scuren "to polish, clean," and from O.Fr. escurer, both from L.L. excurare "clean off," lit. "take good care of," from L. ex- "out" + curare "care for" (see cure). Possibly originally a technical term among Flemish workmen in England.

EXPAND

scour

"move quickly in search of something," c.1300, probably from O.N. skyra "rush in," related to skur "storm, shower." Perhaps infl. by or blended with O.Fr. escorre "to run out," from L. excurrere (see excursion). Sense development probably infl. by scour (1).

COLLAPSE

Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com

Searching for scour?
How many words do you actually know?

FIND OUT

Related Words

beat bagwork clean hearthstone hunt

hunt offscouring scourings skirr

Matching Quote

"Let the great soul incarnated in some woman's form, poor and sad and single, in some Dolly or Joan, go out to service, and sweep chambers and scour floors, and its effulgent daybeams cannot be muffled or hid, but to sweep and scour will instantly appear supreme and beautiful actions, the top and radiance of human life, and all people will get mops and brooms; until, lo! suddenly the great soul has enshrined itself in some other form, and done some other deed, and that is now the flower and head of all living nature."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Partners:Word Bloglines Citysearch The Daily Beast Ask Answers Ask Kids Life123 Sendori Thesaurus

About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help