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offscouring

[ awf-skouuh r-ing, -skou-er-, of- ]

/ ˈɔfˌskaʊər ɪŋ, -ˌskaʊ ər-, ˈɒf- /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR offscouring ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Often offscourings. something scoured off; filth; refuse.

a social outcast.

Origin of offscouring

1520–30; off + scouring, after verb phrase scour off

Words nearby offscouring

offish, offlap, offline, offload, offprint, offscouring, offscourings, offscreen, offset, offset lithography, offset printing

Example sentences from the Web for offscourings

It was not so easy to fill the empty berth in the forecastle, even from the offscourings of the docks.

Sheila of Big Wreck Cove |James A. Cooper
The place was thronged with the offscourings of Paris, and Hervagault found himself in congenial quarters.

Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton |Anonymous
A populace composed of the offscourings of all nations—the dirtiest, roughest, one can imagine.

Jonathan and His Continent |Max O'Rell
There were also present one or two reporters, and a posse of the offscourings of Stoneleigh small-boydom.

The Right Stuff |Ian Hay

The offscourings of prison and dockyards, sent over to work on the plantations before slave labor was introduced.

The Minute Man of the Frontier |W. G. Puddefoot

British Dictionary definitions for offscourings

offscourings

/ (ˈɒfˌskaʊərɪŋz) /

pl n

scum; dregs