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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Scour \Scour\ (skour), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Scoured}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Scouring}.] [Akin to LG. sch["u]ren, D. schuren, schueren, G. scheuern, Dan. skure; Sw. skura; all possibly fr. LL. escurare, fr. L. ex + curare to take care. Cf. {Cure}.]
1. 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.
2. To purge; as, to scour a horse.
3. 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. --Shak.
4. [Perhaps a different word; cf. OF. escorre, escourre, It. scorrere, both fr. L. excurrere to run forth. Cf. {Excursion}.] 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. --Pope.
5. To cleanse or clear, as by a current of water; to flush.
If my neighbor ought to scour a ditch. --Blackstone. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{Scouring barrel}, a tumbling barrel. See under {Tumbling}.
{Scouring cinder} (Metal.), a basic slag, which attacks the lining of a shaft furnace. --Raymond.
{Scouring rush}. (Bot.) See {Dutch rush}, under {Dutch}.
{Scouring stock} (Woolen Manuf.), a kind of fulling mill.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
scouring
noun
1: moving over territory to search for something; "scouring the entire area revealed nothing"
2: the act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and soap and water [syn: {scrub}, {scrubbing}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
140 Moby Thesaurus words for "scouring": ablation, ablution, abrasion, abrasive, afterglow, afterimage, attrition, balance, bones, buffing, burnishing, butt, butt end, candle ends, chafe, chaff, chafing, cleaning out, culm, deadwood, debris, detrition, detritus, dishwater, douche, douching, draff, dregs, dressing, dust, elution, elutriation, end, enema, erasure, erosion, fag end, filing, filings, flush, flushing, flushing out, fossil, fretting, galling, garbage, gash, grazing, grinding, hogwash, holdover, husks, irrigation, lathering, lavabo, lavage, lavation, laving, leavings, lees, leftovers, limation, mopping, mopping up, odds and ends, offal, offscourings, orts, parings, polishing, potsherds, rags, rasping, raspings, refuse, relics, remainder, remains, remnant, residue, residuum, rest, rinse, rinsing, roach, rubbing away, rubbish, ruins, rump, sandblasting, sanding, sawdust, scourings, scrap iron, scrape, scraping, scraps, scratch, scratching, scrub, scrubbing, scrubbing up, scuff, scum, shadow, shampoo, shards, shavings, shining, slack, slag, slop, slops, smoothing, soaping, sponge, sponging, straw, stubble, stump, survival, swabbing, sweepings, swill, tares, trace, vestige, wash, washing, washing up, washout, washup, wastage, waste, waste matter, wastepaper, wear, wearing away, weeds, wiping up
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