Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun plural The refuse that remains after scouring grain.
- noun plural Dregs; scum.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
scouring .
Etymologies
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Examples
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Pardon me speaking that way of one that may be an intimate of your own, but to be quite honest, the Scots gentlemen living on the Scots Fund in France in these days were what I call the scourings of the Hielan's.
Doom Castle Neil Munro
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Oh, Fitzmaurice and the Jesuits land at Smerwick, with three ships, choose a place for a fort, bless it with their holy water, and their moppings and their scourings, and the rest of it, to purify it from the stain of heretic dominion; but in the meanwhile one of the Courtenays, — a Courtenay of
Westward Ho! 2007
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Poor in spirit, but most rich in faith, off-scourings of the world and salt of the earth, despisers of the world and fishers of men, how happy are ye, if suffering penury for Christ ye know how to possess your souls in patience!
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At night, when I walk across the lonely place, it is impossible to avoid hearing, amid the scourings of the wind over the grass-bents and thistles, the old trumpet and bugle calls, the rattle of the halters; to help seeing rows of spectral tents and the impedimenta of the soldiery.
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There were some two or three brothers by the name of Slack; the rest of the company was made up of the off-scourings of wretched humanity.
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There were some two or three brothers by the name of Slack; the rest of the company was made up of the off-scourings of wretched humanity.
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He rose up in a whirlwind, choked with dirt and the scourings of blood.
A Breath of Snow and Ashes Gabaldon, Diana 2005
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Xenel, so lately subject to the scourings of the Moors.
Washington Irving 2004
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But I know no custom more beastly than that of using water-glasses, in which polite company spirt, and squirt, and spue the filthy scourings of their gums, under the eyes of each other.
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Some people say it smells of rotten eggs, and others compare it to the scourings of a foul gun. —
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