offscouring en · NOUN
Etymology
From off- + scouring.
Meanings
- Refuse removed from something by scouring.
-
(figuratively) An outcast, a pariah.
1861, Theodore Winthrop, Washington as a Camp, The Following Is the Oath By repeating a form of words after a gentleman in a glazed cap and black raiment, we had suffered change into base assassins, the offscouring of society, starving for want of employment, and willing to “imbrue our coarse fists in fraternal blood” for the sum of eleven dollars a month, besides hard-tack, salt junk, and the hope of a Confederate States bond apiece for bounty, or free loot in the treasuries of Florida, Mississippi, and Arkansas, after the war.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| offscourings | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (6)
bg измет (refuse from scouring) · ru отбро́сы (pariah) · grc κάθαρμα (refuse from scouring) · bg парий (pariah) · ru отди́рка (refuse from scouring) · ru изго́й (pariah)