scouring

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“
The deeps lead out through the sand; they are but continuations under water of that tide-scouring which is the note of all the place inland, and out, far out, we could see the continuation of the river-beds, and at their mouths far into the sea, the sails A man sounding as he went before the north-east wind was led by force into the main channels.

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Definitions (4)

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  1. The act expressed by the verb to scour in its various senses. Specifically — In woolen-manuf., the process of beating a fabric in water to clean it from the oil and dirt incident to the manufacture. The work is sometimes performed in a scouring-stock or scouring-machine. The cleaning of metal as a preliminary process in electroplating or tin-plate making. In hydraulic engineering, same as flushing. A method of treating grain by rubbing and brushing in a grain-cleaner or scourer to free it from smut, mildew, etc. In leather manufacturing, a method of treating green hides to remove the flesh or the bloom. The hides are set closely on a sloping table, and treated with stiff brushes and water. In angling, the freshening and reddening of angleworms for bait, by placing them for a while in clean sand, their wriggling in which rubs off the earth.
  2. Having an erosive action on the hearth of the furnace: said of slag which is very fusible and fluid when melted, highly vitreous when cooled, also generally very silicious and ferruginous in composition. If the slag becomes more or less of a scouring character through incomplete reduction of considerable amounts of iron, notable quantities of phosphorus are … present therein. Encyc. Brit., XIII. 296.

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Examples (50)

  • He was trying to look awfully casual about the search for the number; he was certain the lady in the corner — Lasko's secretary — had eyes like lasers beneath those heavy brows and hornrimmed glasses with which she could bum straight through the telephone book to the page of K's he was scouring, and then smile meanly and go tell the world. —  dirty duck.htm
  • Wearing balaclavas to cover their faces, the men would then strike - scouring rooms and escaping in stolen cars leaving little or no trace. —  Home | Mail Online
  • SSC director Tim Ocel doesn't so much tackle a Shakespeare play as attack it from every possible angle -- scouring every version he can get his hands on -- to make it connect with new audiences.
  • In 1848, John Deere changed the agricultural business by creating a superior self-scouring plow that would grow to be used by farmers throughout the country. —  Lead Stories from AOL
  • Maybe very turbulent winds above them are kind of scouring out them out? —  reddit.com: what's new online!
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