scour

If you're going to scour those dishes, you'll need a good scouring pad. To scour also means to examine something very, very closely. Having lost his contact lens at the party, Robert asked everyone to scour the room to help him find it.

When you scour something with your eyes, you examine or search it very closely. For example, when the girl went missing, the police used dogs and helicopters to scour the area. When you scour something with your hands, you scrub it very hard—often with a brush or pad—until the surface is spotless. For example, to remove the graffiti from the wall outside the restaurant you'll have to scour it by hand, probably for hours. Looking for a job? Scour those classified ads!