SCOUR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does scour mean? 

• SCOUR (noun)
  The noun SCOUR has 1 sense:

1. a place that is scoured (especially by running water)

  Familiarity information: SCOUR used as a noun is very rare.

• SCOUR (verb)
  The verb SCOUR has 4 senses:

1. examine minutely

2. clean with hard rubbing

3. rub hard or scrub

4. rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid

  Familiarity information: SCOUR used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A place that is scoured (especially by running water)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("scour" is a kind of...):

place; spot; topographic point (a point located with respect to surface features of some region)

Derivation:

scour (rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid)

scour (clean with hard rubbing)

scour (rub hard or scrub)

• SCOUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they scour    ... he / she / it scours   
Past simple: scoured   
Past participle: scoured   
-ing form: scouring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Examine minutely

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The police scoured the country for the fugitive

Hypernyms (to "scour" is one way to...):

look for; search; seek (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence examples:

The men scour the area for animals
The men scour for animals in the area

Derivation:

scouring (moving over territory to search for something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Clean with hard rubbing

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

scour; scrub

Context example:

She scrubbed his back

Hypernyms (to "scour" is one way to...):

rub (move over something with pressure)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scour"):

holystone (scrub with a holystone)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

scour (a place that is scoured (especially by running water))

scourer (someone who cleanses by scouring)

scouring (the act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and soap and water)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Rub hard or scrub

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

abrade; scour

Context example:

scour the counter tops

Hypernyms (to "scour" is one way to...):

rub (move over something with pressure)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

scour (a place that is scoured (especially by running water))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

flush; purge; scour

Context example:

purge the old gas tank

Hypernyms (to "scour" is one way to...):

rinse; rinse off (wash off soap or remaining dirt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

scour (a place that is scoured (especially by running water))

 Context examples 

There was a general shout in favour of the coach-house, and those who were nearest the door began to slip through, in the hope of scouring the best places.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The men working the searchlight, after scouring the entrance of the harbour without seeing anything, then turned the light on the derelict and kept it there.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She had left Thornfield Hall in the night; every research after her course had been vain: the country had been scoured far and wide; no vestige of information could be gathered respecting her.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The moor is being scoured for these gypsies.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“There's a strong scour with the ebb,” he said, “and this here passage has been dug out, in a manner of speaking, with a spade.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The Dry Valleys, by contrast, are ice-free, mountainous regions, interspersed with glaciers, where little snow accumulates because they are scoured by winds.

(Soot transported from elsewhere in world contributes little to melting of some Antarctic glaciers, National Science Foundation)

In addition to being almost completely scoured of ice and snow by high winds, the Dry Valleys are the site of ice-covered lakes, which experience seasonal, temperature-related advances and retreats in their amount of ice cover during the Southern Hemisphere's summer months, sometimes resulting in a temporary moat around the icy surface of the lakes.

(Antarctic lakes are a repository for ancient soot, NSF)

All about me was spotless and bright—scoured floor, polished grate, and well-rubbed chairs.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In small parties we scoured the country as far as East Grinstead and Bletchingley, and the sun had been long over the horizon before we found ourselves back at Crawley once more with heavy hearts and tired feet.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could see clearly a room with a sanded floor, clean scoured; a dresser of walnut, with pewter plates ranged in rows, reflecting the redness and radiance of a glowing peat-fire.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)