Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Scouring |
ScouringNoun1. 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. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "scouring" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Geography | Localized erosive action of water in streams, excavating and carrying away material from the bed and banks. Source: European Union. (references) |
Industry | . . involves washing in warm soapy water several times, followed by thorough rinsing and drying. . . . it removes the natural grease in the fiber, the suint or body excretions, dirt and dust. Source: European Union. (references) |
| Is the method used. . . to remove grease, suint, dirt and other foreign material from the wool fiber. It consists of a series of washes with soap and soda ash and several rinses at varying temperature s. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| To remove the sizing and tint used on the warp yarn in weaving, and in general, cleaning a fabric or yarn prior to dyeing. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Literature | Scouring I'scaped a scouring - a disease. Scouring is a sort of flux in horses and cattle. (Latin, Malum proetervehi, French, L'échapper belle.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: ScouringSynonyms: scrub (n), scrubbing (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Scouring |
| English words defined with "scouring": Calamite, Crabbing ♦ Dutch rush ♦ Emery cloth, Equisetum hyemale, Equisetum hyemale robustum, Equisetum robustum ♦ fuller's earth ♦ Pipe clay ♦ rough horsetail, Rubstone ♦ Scourage, scourer, Scouring barrel, Scouring cinder, scouring pad, scouring rush, Scouring stock, Shave grass, soft soap ♦ Trigger fish ♦ variegated scouring rush. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "scouring": auxiliary dam ♦ Cramp-ring, CUTTER-INSPECTOR ♦ DYE-REEL-OPERATOR HELPER, dye-room helper ♦ FOLDER-TIER, foredam ♦ glacial erosion, grain cleaner ♦ LABORATORY ASSISTANT, laboratory teste, laborer, wash-and-dye house, loose rock-dump ♦ oxyacetylene treatment ♦ PAINTER HELPER, SIGN, PROCESSOR, GRAIN ♦ scour basin, scour hole, SCOURERS, scouring sluices pocket, SHOT-GRINDER OPERATOR, smutter, subsidiary dam, SUPERVISOR, SCOURING PADS ♦ TAB-MACHINE OPERATOR, teart, teart scours, tipped stone, toe scouring. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Close up of scouring rush plant near Amarillo, Tx.Credit: Paul W. Tanner. |  | Bundles of scored wool at wool scouring plant at San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Sacks of wool in storage at wool scouring plant at San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Workers removing scoured and dried wool from machine. Wool scouring plant, San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Freshly scoured and dried wool at wool scouring plant. San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Pile of raw wool after it has been through dust and dirt removing machine. Wool scouring plant, San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Steam plant at wool scouring plant in San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Water storage tank at wool and mohair scouring plant in San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Wool and mohair scouring plant at San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Mohair being fed into scouring tubs at wool and mohair scouring plant. San Marcos, Texas.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | The key processes involve wet processes such as singeing, sizing, scouring, bleaching, dyeing, washing and application of various finishes to alter the properties of the cloth or the finished textile products. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Scouring" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 87.04% of the time. "Scouring" is used about 108 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 87.04% | 94 | 33,845 |
| Noun (singular) | 6.48% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 3.7% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.78% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 108 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "scouring": scouring barrel ♦ scouring cinder ♦ scouring pad ♦ scouring powder ♦ Scouring Rush ♦ scouring sluices pocket ♦ scouring stock ♦ variegated scouring rush. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "scouring": hand-scouring, off-scouring. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
scouring | 14 |
scouring pad | 11 |
scouring rush | 7 |
scouring wool | 4 |
scouring powder | 2 |
horsetail rush scouring | 2 |
scouring sponge | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "scouring"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | pastrim (abrasion, abstersion, clarification, clean, cleaning, cleanup, clearance, defecation, depuration, lustration, mopping, purge, purification, rectification, refinement, refining, scour, scrub, scrub up, sweep), fërkim (caress, embrocation, fondling, friction, massage, rub, rubbing, traction, unction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | نفاية (chaff, dump, garbage, junk, outcast, refuse, riffraff, rubbish, short, slush, soil, swill, trash, waste), بودرة مطهرة (scourer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | хвощ (cat's tail, horsetail, jointweed, scouring rush). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | "试 (scoured). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | drhnutí. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | vask (sink, slop, washing), jordens gliden mod muldpladen, afbejdsning (pickling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | uitschuring (erosion, scour, undermining), glijden van de grond op het rister, afbijten (pickling), afbeitsen (pickling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | پشم شوءی , تمیزکاری (Scrub). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | pohja-aukon yläpuolinen vesiallas (pocket, scouring sluices pocket, undersluices pocket), painepannu puuvillan keittoon (apparatus for scouring in autoclaves, autoclave, pressure kier), painepannu (apparatus for scouring in autoclaves, autoclave, pressure kier), alasulun yläpuolinen vesiallas (pocket, scouring sluices pocket, undersluices pocket). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | récurage, lavage (scrubbing), glissement de la terre sur le versoir, dessuintage et dégraissage, dessuintage, decapage, dégraissage, dégommage, décrochage, décapage, affouillement (scour, scour hole, undermining scouring). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | umherstreifend (ramble, straggling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | καθάρισμα της επιφάνειας ενός μετάλλου με οξύ (pickling), πλύσιμο (ablution, bottoming, braying, rinsing, sheep dip, swill, washing), ολίσθηση του εδάφους πάνω στον αναστρεπτήρα. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מריק" (cleaning, exoneration, polishing), "'על" (rinsing in hot water, scalding), 'ריפ" (sweep, sweeping), קוי (abstersion, cleaning, cleansing, clearing, exculpation, exoneration). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | sikálás (scrub), súrolás (scour, scrub, scrubbing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | slittamento del terreno sul versoio, lavatura (dishwater, scrubbing, stripping, wash, washing, water for rinsing), erosione localizzata (scour), erosione locale (scour), disincrostazione (defurring, deliming, descaling, pickling, scaling), affossamento (caving, dig in, plough in, pothole, sapping, scour, scour hole, undercutting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 精練 (training). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | せいれ" (honesty, integrity, purity and unselfishness, refining, smelting, temper, tempering, training). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 닦음 (Polishing, Wipe, Wiping). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | geinnagh scooiree (scouring sand). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ouringscay lavagem (ablution, cleaning, elutriation, grading, leaching, lessivage, lixiviation, rinse, rinsing, scab, scavenging, scrubbing, separation, shell, slipslop, wash, wash out, washing, washout, washup, wish-wash), deslizamento da terra na aiveca. (various references) шабровка, очистка (affinage, clarification, cleaning, cleanup, clean-up, clearance, clearing, decontamination, fining, purification, refinement, refining, remmediation, sanitizing, scavenging). (various references) dijareja kod konja i stoke, bičevanje (lashing, whipping). (various references) revoque (course, filler, floating), resbalamiento de la tierra sobre la vertedera, limpieza (ablution, clean up, cleaning, cleanliness, cleanness, clearing, comb out, dirt removal, dredge, facial, frankness, grooming, high tide, immaculacy, integrity, pigging, police, purity, scour, shining, turnout), lavado (abstersion, cleaning, dipping, lavage, leaching, lessivage, lixiviation, scrubbing, separation, wash, wash out, washed, washing), fregado (scour, scrub, scrubbing, tiresome, washing up), escurrimiento de la tierra sobre la vertedera, derrubio (colluvium, drift, talus, undermining), decapado al ácido (pickling). (various references) skurpulver (scouring powder), vattenmagasin för uppströms bottenutskov (pocket, scouring sluices pocket, undersluices pocket), bykpanna för övertryck (apparatus for scouring in autoclaves, autoclave, pressure kier). (various references) arama (exploration, hunting, quest, reconnaissance, research, search, searching). (various references) шабрування (scraping), очистка (clearing, offscouring, purification, scrubbing, weeding). (various references) ysgwrfa (lathering). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "scouring": scourings. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "scouring": bescouring, offscouring. (additional references) | |
Words containing "scouring": offscourings. (additional references) | |
| |
"Scouring" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: couring, Schubring, scoringe, scourian, scourings, scourn, scrooving, scuring, stouring, succouring. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "scouring" (pronounced skou"ering) |
| 5 | -k ou" er i ng | cowering. |
| 4 | -ou" er i ng | devouring, empowering, flowering, glowering, powering, showering, souring, towering. |
| 3 | -er i ng | administering, altering, anchoring, angering, answering, auguring, backfiring, badgering, bantering, bartering, battering, belaboring, beleaguering, bettering, bewildering, bickering, blistering, blundering, blustering, bolstering, bordering, bothering, brokering, butchering, capturing, catering, censoring, centering, chartering, chattering, clamoring, clobbering, clustering, cluttering, coloring, configuring, conjuring, conquering, considering, cornering, countering, covering, culturing, deciphering, delivering, desiring, diapering, dickering, differing, discovering, disfavoring, disfiguring, dismembering, dithering, doctoring, doddering, embroidering, encountering, endangering, endeavoring, entering, factoring, faltering, fathering, favoring, feathering, featuring, festering, figuring, filibustering, filtering, fingering, flattering, flavoring, flickering, floundering, fluttering, fostering, foundering, fracturing, frittering, furthering, garnering, gathering, gerrymandering, gesturing, glimmering, glittering, grandfathering, guttering, hammering, hampering, hankering, harboring, hectoring, hindering, hollering, honoring, hovering, hungering, hunkering, injuring, inquiring, laboring, laundering, lawyering, layering, lecturing, lettering, levering, lingering, littering, loitering, lowering, lumbering, majoring, maneuvering, manufacturing, massacring, mastering, maundering, meandering, measuring, mentoring, metering, minoring, mirroring, mitering, mongering, monitoring, mothering, motoring, murdering, murmuring, mustering, muttering, nattering, neighboring, neutering, nonmanufacturing, numbering, nurturing, offering, ordering, outnumbering, pampering, pandering, papering, partnering, peppering, perjuring, pestering, petering, philandering, picturing, pilfering, plastering, plundering, pondering, posturing, powdering, pressuring, proffering, prospering, puncturing, puttering, quivering, recapturing, reconsidering, recovering, rediscovering, reentering, registering, rejiggering, remembering, rendering, reoffering, reordering, requiring, restructuring, rewiring, rupturing, savoring, scampering, scattering, sculpturing, sequestering, severing, shattering, sheltering, shimmering, shivering, shouldering, shuddering, shuttering, simmering, slaughtering, slithering, slobbering, slumbering, smattering, smoldering, smothering, snickering, sobering, soldering, soldiering, spattering, spiering, splintering, sponsoring, sputtering, squandering, staggering, structuring, stuttering, suffering, surrendering, swaggering, sweltering, tailoring, tampering, tapering, teetering, tempering, tendering, thundering, tinkering, torturing, tottering, transpiring, triggering, tutoring, uncovering, unflattering, unwavering, ushering, uttering, venturing, wagering, wallpapering, wandering, warmongering, watering, wavering, weathering, whimpering, whispering, withering, wondering, Wuthering, zippering. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: coursing, sourcing. | |
| Words within the letters "c-g-i-n-o-r-s-u" | |
-1 letter: congius, cursing, rousing, scoring, souring. | |
-2 letters: coigns, corgis, coring, cornus, cosign, cousin, curing, curios, girons, grison, groins, guiros, incogs, incurs, orcins, rosing, signor, soring, unrigs. | |
-3 letters: cions, coign, coins, coirs, conus, corgi, corns, cornu, cuing, curio, curns, girns, giron, giros, grins, groin, guiro, icons, incog, incur, incus, irons, noirs, noris, orcin, orgic, ornis, rings, rosin, ruing, ruins, rungs, runic, scion, scorn, scour, sonic, suing, uncos, unrig, using. | |
-4 letters: cigs, cion, cogs, coin, coir, coni, cons, corn, cors, cris, crus, curn, curs, gins, girn, giro, gnus, grin, guns, icon, inro, ions, iron, nogs, noir, nori, nous, onus, orcs, ours, rigs, ring, rins, rocs, rugs, ruin, rung, runs, sign, sing, snog, snug, song, sori, sorn, sour, sung, unci, unco, uric, urns. | |
-5 letters: cig, cis, cog, con, cor, cos, cur, gin, gnu, gor, gos, gun, ins, ion, nog, nor, nos, nus, ons, orc, ors, our, rig, rin, roc, rug, run, sic, sin, sir, son, sou, sri, sun, uns, urn. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-g-i-n-o-r-s-u" | |
+1 letter: carousing, chorusing, closuring, coursings, obscuring, scourging, scourings, scrouging, succoring. | |
+2 letters: bescouring, chorussing, coinsuring, configures, construing, outcursing, outscoring, refocusing, scroungier, scrounging, succouring, uncrossing, ungracious. | |
+3 letters: chirurgeons, congruities, cornhusking, coruscating, countersign, courtesying, discoursing, fluorescing, grouchiness, incongruous, microfungus, nonsurgical, obstructing, offscouring, outcrossing, outscorning, outsourcing, oversaucing, prefocusing, prosecuting, refocussing, scouthering, scroungiest. | |
+4 letters: churchgoings, congruencies, constructing, cornhuskings, corrugations, countersigns, countersuing, croquignoles, crosscutting, crossruffing, discouraging, glucuronides, graciousness, offscourings, outcroppings, outsourcings, overfocusing, prefocussing, reconfigures, roughcasting, shortcutting, stringcourse, sugarcoating, supercoiling, supercooling, superorganic, underscoring, ungraciously. | |
+5 letters: cartilaginous, clearinghouse, compurgations, computerising, cotransducing, counterimages, counterposing, countersigned, crosscuttings, fluoroscoping, gastrocnemius, glucuronidase, grouchinesses, incongruences, incongruities, incongruously, microfunguses, misconstruing, neurosurgical, outstretching, overconsuming, overfocussing, rediscounting, rockhoundings, stringcourses, undercoatings, undiscouraged. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 63 6F 75 72 69 6E 67 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... -.-. --- ..- .-. .. -. --. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010011 01100011 01101111 01110101 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)S c o u r i n g |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0053 0063 006F 0075 0072 0069 006E 0067 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5369818784758073 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
