scour

CEFRB2

/ˈskaʊə/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To clean something by rubbing it hard.

  2. 02

    verb

    To search a place carefully.

Examples

  • How our cat loves to scour someone else's dishes!

  • How will I scour with a fork?

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /skæɔə/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To clear the digestive tract (of an animal) by administering medication that induces defecation or vomiting; to purge.

  2. To remove debris and dirt (from something) by purging; to sweep along or off by a current of water.

  3. To clean, polish, or wash (something) by rubbing and scrubbing it vigorously, frequently with an abrasive or cleaning agent.

More examples

In context

  • "Go to work, scour the shit." "Screw you!"

  • He scoured the burnt food from the pan.

  • If a lamb is scouring, do not delay treatment.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She had to blank the burnt pot with steel wool to remove the stains.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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.