offscouring
Americannoun
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Often offscourings. something scoured off; filth; refuse.
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a social outcast.
Etymology
Origin of offscouring
1520–30; off + scour 1 ( def. ), + -ing 1 ( def. ), after verb phrase scour off
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They were the despised and rejected, the wretched and the spat upon, the earth’s offscouring; and he was in their company, and they would swallow up his soul.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
We are made as the filth of the world, and as the offscouring of all things unto this day.'
From Expositions of Holy Scripture: the Acts by Maclaren, Alexander
That woman, his wife," she concluded, "made me feel that I was of the scum and offscouring of the earth, and they've made me feel so here, too—even these wretched paupers.
From He Fell in Love with His Wife by Roe, Edward Payson
Now, of course, we are not about to become the offscouring of the earth by yielding these up to destruction.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 67, May, 1863 by Various
Such doctors are the offscouring of the medical profession.
From Heathen Slaves and Christian Rulers by Andrew, Elizabeth Wheeler
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
