"If tranſcribers and printers, or editors, will be perpetually varying from the ſpelling of their author, we ſhall neceſſarily have a conſtant ſource of corruption: for by this alteration, which inſenſibly goes on from ſmaller to greater things, that antique caſt is loſt, which of itſelf carries ſo venerable an aſpect; and our modern editors, in this reſpect, reſemble the officious ſervant of the late learned antiquary Dr. Woodward, who in ſcowering off the ruſt from an old ſhield, which his maſter had juſt purchaſed, made it more reſemble the new ſcowered cover of an old kettle, than the ſhield of an ancient heroe."
— 1751, John Upton, A Letter Concerning a New Edition of Spenser’s Faerie Queene. To Gilbert West, Esq., London: […] G. Hawkins, […], →OCLC, section VI, page 36:
"They all looked directly at the ſcullion,—the ſcullion had juſt been ſcouring a fiſh-kettle."
— 1762, [Laurence Sterne], chapter IX, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume V, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], →OCLC, page 52:
"A light brown sand, of an exceeding fine grain, almost impalpable, from the river Sullane, near New-bridge, where it is found in plenty. It scours brass without scratching, cleans silver, and is excellent for casting the finer works, both of the brazier and silversmith."
— 1815, Charles Smith, “Of the Most Remarkable Fossils Discovered in this County”, in The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork. […], new edition, volume II, Cork, Munster, Ireland: […] John Connor, […], →OCLC, paragraph 2, page 391:
"There were the tawny rocks, like lions couchant, defying the ocean, whose waves incessantly dashed against and scoured them with vast quantities of gravel."
— 1865, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “The Shipwreck”, in [Sophia Thoreau; William Ellery Channing], editors, Cape Cod, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 14:
"I will redeeme all this on Percies head, / And in the cloſing of ſome glorious day / Be bold to tell you that I am your ſonne, / When I will weare a garment all of bloud, / And ſtaine my fauors in a bloudy maske, / Which waſht away ſhall ſcoure my ſhame with it, […]"
— c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]: