scouring

noun

1. The act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush, soap and water.
2. Diarrhea. (Now used only of livestock, though also sometimes used of humans into the 1600s.)

   “Another for a violent scouring. Take the Entrails of a Pullet, or great Chicken, all but the Gizzard, and mix with tbem of Spikenard one Ounce, ' and make him swallow it, and this will infallibly stay his Scouring, yea, though it be a Bloody-Flux.”

   “For that kind of lax and scouring called bloody flux, see the article BLOODY FLUX.”

   “Thus in 1670 the London bills ascribe 142 deaths to “bloody flux, scouring, and flux,” and 3,690 to “griping in the guts.””

   “Flux, bloody flux and scouring feature from the first, but were overtaken in the 1650s by 'plague in the guts', soon renamed 'griping in the guts'. An apparent decline in bloody flux was more than matched by high levels of 'griping in the guts'.”

3. Erosion by water, especially in watercourses.

   “It was also found that scouring had occurred in the bed of the mill lade, which passes between the first and second piers.”

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of scour

   “Scouring the entire area revealed nothing.”