scour.
To clean, polish, or wash (something) by rubbing and scrubbing it vigorously, frequently with an abrasive or cleaning agent.
Meaning & usage
To clean, polish, or wash (something) by rubbing and scrubbing it vigorously, frequently with an abrasive or cleaning agent.
He scoured the burnt food from the pan.
To remove debris and dirt (from something) by purging; to sweep along or off by a current of water.
To clear the digestive tract (of an animal) by administering medication that induces defecation or vomiting; to purge.
to scour a horse
To (cause livestock to) suffer from diarrhoea or dysentery.
If a lamb is scouring, do not delay treatment.
To cleanse (something) without rubbing.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English scǒuren (“to polish, scour; to clean; to beat, whip”), from Middle Dutch scuren, schuren (“to clean; to polish”) or Middle Low German schǖren, of uncertain origin but probably from Old French escurer, from Medieval Latin scūrō, escūrō, excūrō (“to clean off”), from ex- (“thoroughly”) + cūrō (“to arrange, see to, take care of”), from cūra (“care, concern”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (“to heed”)) + -ō. The word is cognate with Danish skure, Middle High German schüren, schiuren (modern German scheuern (“to scour, scrub; to chafe”)), Norwegian skura (“to scrub”), Swedish skura, Catalan escurar.
The removal of sediment caused by swiftly moving water.
Bridge scour may scoop out scour holes and compromise the integrity of the structure.
A place scoured out by running water, as in the bed of a stream below a waterfall.
A place where wool is washed to remove grease and impurities prior to processing.
Diarrhoea, in livestock; scouring.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English scǒuren (“to polish, scour; to clean; to beat, whip”), from Middle Dutch scuren, schuren (“to clean; to polish”) or Middle Low German schǖren, of uncertain origin but probably from Old French escurer, from Medieval Latin scūrō, escūrō, excūrō (“to clean off”), from ex- (“thoroughly”) + cūrō (“to arrange, see to, take care of”), from cūra (“care, concern”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (“to heed”)) + -ō. The word is cognate with Danish skure, Middle High German schüren, schiuren (modern German scheuern (“to scour, scrub; to chafe”)), Norwegian skura (“to scrub”), Swedish skura, Catalan escurar.
To search an area thoroughly.
They scoured the scene of the crime for clues.
A search engine will scour the web for you.
To run with speed; to scurry.
To move swiftly over; to brush along.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English scǒuren, scure, skoure (“to move quickly; to travel around in search of enemies”), from scǒur (“attack, conflict; pang of emotional suffering”), from Old Norse skýra (“to rush in”) and skúr (“a shower; a shower of missiles”), perhaps influenced by the verb scǒuren: see etymology 1.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.