scour /skaʊə $ skaʊr/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Sense 1: Date: 1400-1500 ; Origin: Probably from a Scandinavian language. ]
[ Sense 2-3: Date: 1100-1200 ; Origin: Probably from Middle Dutch schuren , from Old French escurer , from Late Latin excurare 'to clean off' , from Latin cura 'care' ]
1 . to search very carefully and thoroughly through an area, a document etc
scour something for something
Her family began to scour the countryside for a suitable house.
2 . ( also scour out ) to clean something very thoroughly by rubbing it with a rough material SYN scrub :
Ada was scouring out the pans.
3 . ( also scour out ) to form a hole by continuous movement over a long period:
Over the years, the stream had scoured out a round pool in the rock.