Scour, verb. (old).—1. To run away: also to scour away (or off).—Grose.
2. (venery).—To copulate: see Greens and Ride.
1656. Fletcher, Martiall, II. 56. She is not wont To take, but give for scouring of her .
To scour the darbies (or cramp-rings), verb. phr. (Old Cant).—To go (or lie) in chains [Harman (1573), Head, B. E., Coles, Grose].
1608. Dekker, The Beggar's Curse [Grosart, Works], iii. 203. Then to the quier ken, to scoure the Cramp-ring.
1707. Shirley, Triumph of Wit, 'Rum-Works Faithless Maunder.' Thou the Cramp-rings ne'er did scowre.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxxviii. No wonder that you scour the cramp-ring and trine to the cheat sae often.
Scourer (or Scowrer), subs.
(old).—1. ' Drunkards, beating
the Watch, breaking Windows,
clearing the Streets, &c. (B. E.:
also Grose): whence (2) a night-*thief.
Hence to scour the
streets = to act riotously.
c. 1700. Gentleman Instructed, 491 [10 ed., 1732]. He spurr'd to London, and . . . Here he struck up with sharpers, scourers, and Alsatians.
1712. Steele, Spectator, 324. Bullies and scowerers of a long standing.
1712. Gay, Trivia, iii. 325. Who has not heard the scowerers midnight fame? Who has not trembled at the Mo-*hock's name?
Scout, subs. (Oxford Univ.).—1.
A college servant—a valet, waiter,
messenger, &c., in one (Grose).
1750. The Student, i. 55. My scout, indeed, is a very learned fellow.
1822. Scott, F. of Nigil, xvi. No scout in Oxford, no gyp in Cambridge, ever matched him in speed and intelligence.
1841. Hewlett, Peter Priggins, College scout, &c. [Title].
1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, iii. Mr. Robert Filcher, the excellent, though occasionally erratic scout.
1884. Julian Sturgis in Longmans', v. 65. The old don went back to his chair . . . as his scout came in with a note.
2. (old).—A watchman, or (modern) a spy, esq. a police spy. Hence scout-ken = a watch-*house (Poulter (1754), Grose, Vaux).
1800. Parker, Life's Painter, 116. There's no hornies, traps, scouts, nor beak-runners amongst them.
1821. Egan, Life in London, II. iii. Turning the corner of Old Bedlam, A scout laid me flat upon my face.
3. (old).—A watch (B. E., Grose).
1688. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, ii. Sirrah! here's a scout; what's a clock, what's a clock, Sirrah.
1821. Haggart, Life, 28. Sporting an elegant dress scout, drag, and chates.
4. (old).—A mean fellow; a scab (q.v).—B. E.
1749. Smollett, Rod. Random, xv. Though I be a poor cobbler's son, I am no scout.
Verb. (Sporting).—To shoot pigeons outside a gun-club enclosure.
To scout on the lay, verb. phr. (thieves').—To go in search of booty.
c. 1787. Kilmainham Minit [Ireland Sixty Years Ago, 88]. The scrag-boy may yet be outwitted, And I scout again on de lay.
Scowbank, subs. (nautical).—A
term of contempt to a sailor (C.
Russell).
Scrag (or Crag), subs. (old).—The
neck; colquarron (q.v.):
as verb. = (1) to hang; and (2)
to throttle. Hence scragging
