scoured

[ skouuhrd, skou-erd ]

adjective

1. cleansed or polished by hard rubbing, as with a rough or abrasive material:

   American society, through advertising, associates the scent of lemon with a freshly scoured kitchen.

2. cleared or dug out, as by the force of water, glaciers, etc.:

   Muskeget Channel, located between Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, is a deeply scoured channel with strong tidal currents.

3. (of cotton, wool, etc.) cleaned or made free of impurities, debris, etc., by or as if by washing:

   When dried, the scoured wool is usually carded and combed before the process of spinning.

4. cleared or made free of anything undesirable; cleansed:

   It is from a scoured soul and a sober heart that prayer is engaged.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of scour ¹.

Word History and Origins

Origin of scoured¹

scour ¹( def ) + -ed ²( def )

Example Sentences

Their customers now understand those risks, too, if they’ve spent hours scouring stores for toilet paper or months waiting for a new refrigerator.

From Washington Post

They scoured deeds, newspaper stories and genealogical documents to discover who had lived in it.

From Washington Post

Encouraging vaccine news has Wall Street searching for stocks to play the rebound—scouring the market for names that have been beaten up amid the pandemic but poised to boom once things return to normal.

From Fortune

Things to consider when buying wireless headphonesAs you begin your journey towards wireless listening, there are a few things you should keep in mind when scouring the virtual shelves.

From Popular-Science

When the pandemic began in March, he scoured studies in The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and other top-flight medical journals, preparing himself, and his county, for the virus’s arrival.

From ProPublica

There is a large area to be scoured and the amount of time the airplane can spend over its assigned zone is critical.

From The Daily Beast

Once the sand was plowed back onto the beaches, volunteers scoured it for any flotsam that got through the sifting machines.

From The Daily Beast

Nasaw has had full access to family documents and scoured the archives.

From The Daily Beast

My captors scoured the web for information about me and discovered our history in Bosnia.

From The Daily Beast

Investigators scoured the area over the weekend, questioning her family and friends.

From The Daily Beast

The day dawned with a steady drizzle of rain, and, after a poor attempt at breakfast, I scoured the neighbourhood for a taxi.

From Project Gutenberg

They scoured every main artery and side road and cart track for miles in every direction, he and Johnny the Itch.

From Project Gutenberg

Again the smoothbore roared and a handful of balls scoured another thicket.

From Project Gutenberg

The loyalist forces now scoured the insurgent districts, and it was found impossible to prevent many excesses from taking place.

From Project Gutenberg

He supposed they had scoured all Jursa for a real beauty to dazzle him; but they would discover that it would not work.

From Project Gutenberg