Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also scour away, scour it, scour off) to travel at speed, to run away.

1566		W. Adlington (trans) Golden Asse 64: Then I began to ronne, [...] for I had as great a desier to escape as shee: In so muche that I seemed to scowre away like a horse.
a.1592		Greene Alcida (1617) H2: suddenly before all our fights was turned into this byrd (a Camelion) wherevpon the mariners reioyced, hoising vp sailes, and thrusting into the maine, we scowred and returned home to the court .
1669		R. L’Estrange Fables of Abstemius (1692) CCLXII 236: The Poor Man calls presently to his Ass, in a Terrible Fright, to Scoure away as fast as he could Scamper.
c.1685		‘The Call to the Races at Newmarket’ in Ebsworth Bagford Ballads (1878) I 80: Dragon could scower it, but Dragon is old, / He cannot endure it.
1696		Motteux (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) II Bk V 525: The shepherdess [...] saw her ass scour off.
1700		N. Ward ‘A Step to Stir-Bitch-Fair’ in Writings (1704) 263: From thence we scower’d along at an Asses Gallop.
1707		Humours of a Coffee-House 27 Aug. 11: I must scour into Change Alley.
1711		N. Ward Vulgus Britannicus VII 78: The Mob thus scouring in a hurry, / T’escape the Guards dissembl’d Fury.
1718		Stamford Mercury 8 May 8: After he had killed her [...] he scoured off.
1722		A. Ramsay ‘The Twa Cut-Purses’ Fables and Tales 36: Now possest of Rowth of Gear / Scour’d aff as lang’s the Cost was clear.
1733		Laugh and Be Fat 6: He snatch’d them both out of the Dish [...] and away he scowr’d out of the Back-Door.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 445: Away they both scoured, leaving the String for the Reckoning.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. n.p.: To scowre to run away or scamper.
1753		Foote Englishman in Paris in Works (1799) I 35: How the powder flew about, and the Monsieurs scour’d.
1768		A. Ross Helenore in Wattie Scot. Works (1938) 57: They turs’d the baggage an’ awa’ they scour.
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Scower, to scower or score off, to run away, perhaps from score, i.e. full speed, or as fast as legs would carry one.
1787		A. Shirrefs Jamie and Bess III i: Whene’er I chance to come in sight, / He scours awa, as he had ta’en a fright.
1790		J. Freeth ‘Staffordshire Fox-Chace’ Political Songster 66: From Drayton to Bangley, he scours it away.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.

2. to beat, to hit.

1640		‘Mary Tattle-well’ Womens sharpe revenge 191 I have heard some to brag, as he payd one, hee pepperd another, hee sawced a third, he anointed a fourth, hee scowred a fifth.
1680		M. Stevenson Wits Paraphras’d 15: He’d murder me for your deflouring; / I had much ado to scape a scouring.
[1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 12: Four strokes [of a cane] were known as a scrubbing, three as a scouring].

3. to roam about at night uproariously, breaking windows, beating the watch and molesting wayfarers; thus n. scouring.

1673		T. Shadwell Epsom Wells II i: You drink Burgundy perpetually and Scower as you call it.
1683		Fifteen Real Comforts of Matrimony 102: Men […] flinging their Glasses over their Shoulders, […] burning their Coats, hats and Perriwigs , and then running to Bawdihouses, mad as March-hares, their Scowring, as they call it, […] breaking peoples Windows , their quarrels with the Watch.
1688		T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia I i: Ay, ay, you broke windows; scoured; broke open a house in Dorset Court, and took a pretty wench, a gentleman’s natural, away by force.
1700		T. Brown Amusements Serious and Comical in Works (1744) III 66: The third [...] goes to signalize his valour in scouring the streets.
1718		M. Prior Alma in Works (1959) I iii 506: From Milk-sop He starts up Mohack: [...] So thro’ the Street at Midnight scow’rs: Breaks Watch-men’s Heads, and Chair-men’s Glasses.
1756		Gent.’s Mag. XXVI. 37: As bees for honey range from flow’r to flow’r, / From house to house I see Mundungus scow’r!

4. of a man, to have sexual intercourse; occas. of a woman.

1655		Gossips Braule 6: Go go, to Tower-Hill, and get your Gun scour’d ye Jade; I never was the Hang-mans Whore yet.
1661		‘The Tinker’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 147: But I must have my Cauldron now / Once scoured o’er again.
a.1674		Rochester ‘The Argument’ Poems on Several Occasions (1680) 35: Twelve times I scour’d the Kennel ’twixt her Thighs, / The cheating Jilt, at th’Twelfth, a Dry-Bob cryes.
c.1720		‘The Turnep Ground’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 224: Zounds, Landlords, send but in your Wifes, / We’ll scow’r off all their Notches.
1741		N. Rowe ‘Horace’s Integer Vitae applied to the Rakes of Drury’ in Potent Ally 27: The Man, Dear Friend, who wears a C—m, / May scour the Hundreds round at random; / Whether it please him to disport, In Wild-Street, or in Coulson’s Court; / He fears no Danger from the Doxies, / Laughs at their F*****, and scorns their Poxes.
1785		‘Three Monks’ in Nightly Sports of Venus 24: Had you a visit from your Spouses? [...] Mine wak’d me, and away he scour’d At once, and ran me out of breath [...] Press’d hugg’d and squeez’d, and crush’d to death.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 44: Bourrer. To copulate; ‘to scour’.
1941		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 169: The men really bore me! / But I reckon, without ’em, / Though I hate ’em and scout ’em, / There just would be no one to scour me.
1947		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 24: Every time he got hot / He would scour the twat / Of some girl that might be to his liking.