Meanings
plural offscourings
- figurativelyAn outcast, a pariah.
1 more example
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.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Translations
Ancient Greek κάθαρμα
- κάθαρμα (kátharma)refuse from scouring
Bulgarian измет, парий
- измет (izmet)refuse from scouring
- парий (parij)pariah
Russian отди́рка, изго́й
- отди́рка (otdírka)refuse from scouring
- изго́й (izgój)pariah
- отбро́сы (otbrósy)pariah
Cite this entry
offscouring. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offscouring
“offscouring.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offscouring. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “offscouring,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offscouring.
Source: offscouring on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.