scourge (skerj)

[ A scowrge; flageum, flagellum. Cath. Ang., p. 324. In hys sermon at on tyme he had a balys in hys hond, a nother tyme a schorge, the iijde tyme a Crowne of thorne. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 3. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple. John ii. 15. Hence-2. A punishment; a punitive affliction; any means of inflicting punishment, vengeance, or suffering. Famine and plague... are sent as scourges for amend IMG:content-0353.png:[blocks in formation] The act expre ed by the verb to scour in its various senses. Specifically-(a) In woolen - manuf., the proce of beating a fabric in water to clean it from the oil and dirt incident to the manufacture. The work is sometimes performed in a scouring-stock or scouring machine. (b) The cleaning of metal as a preliminary proce in electroplating or tin-plate making. (c) In hy draul. eng in., same as flushing (d) A method of treating grain rubbing and brushing in a grain-cleaner or scourer to free it from smut, mildew, etc. (e) In leather manuf., a method of treating green hides to remove the flesh or the bloom. The hides are set closely on a sloping table, and treated with stiff brushes and water. (f) In angling, the freshening and reddening of angleworms for bait, by placing them for a while in clean sand, their wriggling in which rubs off the earth. scouring (skour'ing), p. a. Having an erosive action on the hearth of the furnace: said of slag which is very fusible and fluid when melted, highly vitreous when cooled, also generally very silicious and ferruginous in composition. If the slag becomes more or le of a scouring character through incomplete reduction of considerable amounts of iron, notable quantities of phosphorus are... present IMG:content-0354.png:[blocks in formation]