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To rub anything hard, especially with a wet brush; to scour; hence, to be diligent and penurious; as, to scrub hard for a living.

To move hastily; to scour. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Exploring thoroughly; scrutinizing; penetrating; trying; as, a searching discourse; a searching eye. "Piercing, searching, biting, cold." Dickens. -- Search"ing*ly, adv. -- Search"ing*ness, n.

nse; meaning; significance. [Obs.] Tales of best sentence and most solace. Chaucer. The discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence. Milton.

; full of meaning; terse and energetic in expression; pithy; as, a sententious style or discourse; sententious truth. How he apes his sire, Ambitiously sententious! Addison.

A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermens of Chaucer. [Obs.] Chaucer.

The act of discoursing; discourse; instruction; preaching. [Obs.] Chaucer.

To preach or discourse to; to affect or influence by means of a sermon or of sermons. [R.] Which of us shall sing or sermonize the other fast asleep Landor.

Regular; uniform; formal; as, a set discourse; a set battle. "The set phrase of peace." Shak.

lmost to graze; as, the bullet missed by a close shave. [Colloq.] Shave grass (Bot.), the scouring rush. See the Note under Equisetum. -- Shave hook, a tool for scraping metals, consisting of a sharp- edged triangular steel plate attached to a shank and handle.

ong in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface. Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. Pope.

To ramble over in order to clear; to scour. [Archaic] Shak.

Weak, poor, or flat liquor; weak, profitless discourse or writing.

Bland; mild; smoothing; fattering. This smooth discourse and mild behavior oft Conceal a traitor. Addison.

The act of talking to one's self; a discourse made by one in solitude to one's self; monologue. Lovers are always allowed the comfort of soliloquy. Spectator.

A discourse on health, or the science of promoting and preserving health.

To utter a speech, discourse, or harangue; to adress a public assembly formally. Many of the nobility made themselves popular by speaking in Parliament against those things which were most grateful to his majesty. Clarendon.

One who utters or pronounces a discourse; usually, one who utters a speech in public; as, the man is a good speaker, or a bad speaker.

formal discourse in public; oration; harangue. The constant design of these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point. Swift.

usiness. I was engaged in conversation upon a subject which the people love to start in discourse. Addison.