scourer

1
[ skouuhr-er, skou-er-er ]
See synonyms for: scourerscourers on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a person who scours or cleanses.

  2. an implement, device, or preparation for scouring.

Origin of scourer

1
First recorded in 1425–75, scourer is from the late Middle English word scourour.See scour1, -er1

Words Nearby scourer

Other definitions for scourer (2 of 2)

scourer2
[ skouuhr-er, skou-er-er ]

noun
  1. a person who scours or ranges about.

  2. (in the 17th and 18th centuries) a prankster who roamed the streets at night.

Origin of scourer

2
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at scour2, -er1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use scourer in a sentence

  • A nation of reformers looks like a scourer of silver-plate—black all over and dingy, with making things white and brilliant.

    Anima Poet | Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  • This was done in vats, where the clothes were trodden and well worked by the feet of the scourer.

    Museum of Antiquity | L. W. Yaggy
  • The most efficient scourer is that which frees the wheat from the greatest amount of impurity with a minimum of abrasion.

  • To restore that to its pristine freshness might have daunted a professional scourer.

    A Dixie School Girl | Gabrielle E. Jackson
  • The former made wooden bowls, and the latter was sometimes a scourer, or scout, Mid.

    The Romance of Names | Ernest Weekley