Scorching

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Scorch \Scorch\ (sk[^o]rch), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Scorched}; p.
     pr. & vb. n. {Scorching}.] [OE. scorchen, probably akin to
     scorcnen; cf. Norw. skrokken shrunk up, skrekka, skr["o]kka,
     to shrink, to become wrinkled up, dial. Sw. skr[*a]kkla to
     wrinkle (see {Shrug}); but perhaps influenced by OF.
     escorchier to strip the bark from, to flay, to skin, F.


     ['e]corcher, LL. excorticare; L. ex from + cortex, -icis,
     bark (cf. {Cork}); because the skin falls off when scorched.]
     1. To burn superficially; to parch, or shrivel, the surface
        of, by heat; to subject to so much heat as changes color
        and texture without consuming; as, to scorch linen.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Summer drouth or sing[`e]d air
              Never scorch thy tresses fair.        --Milton.
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     2. To affect painfully with heat, or as with heat; to dry up
        with heat; to affect as by heat.
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              Lashed by mad rage, and scorched by brutal fires.
                                                    --Prior.
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     3. To burn; to destroy by, or as by, fire.
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              Power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
                                                    --Rev. xvi. 8.
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              The fire that scorches me to death.   --Dryden.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Scorching \Scorch"ing\, a.
     1. Burning; parching or shriveling with heat.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. sufficiently hot to cause scorching.
        [PJC] -- {Scorch"ing*ly}, adv. -- {Scorch"ing*ness}, n.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  scorching
       adj : hot and dry enough to burn or parch a surface; "scorching
             heat"
       adv : capable of causing burns; "it was scorching hot"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  112 Moby Thesaurus words for "scorching":
     acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acid, acidic, acidulent, acidulous,
     acrid, acrimonious, ardent, baking, biting, bitter, blazing,
     blistering, boiling, branding, broiling, burning, burning hot,
     calcination, canicular, carbonization, caustic, cauterization,
     cautery, cineration, combustion, concremation, corroding,
     corrosive, cracking, cremation, critical, cupellation, cutting,
     deflagration, destructive distillation, distillation, distilling,
     ebullient, excoriating, fanatic, feverish, fiery, flaming, flushed,
     grilling, hard-core, harsh, heated, hellish, hot, hot as fire,
     hot as hell, hotheaded, incineration, incisive, inflamed, keen,
     like a furnace, like an oven, madcap, mordacious, mordant,
     overheated, overwarm, oxidation, oxidization, parching, passionate,
     penetrating, piercing, piping hot, pyrolysis, red-hot, refining,
     roasting, scalding, scathing, scorification, searing, seething,
     self-immolation, sharp, simmering, singeing, sizzling,
     sizzling hot, smelting, smoking hot, stabbing, stinging, sudorific,
     suttee, sweating, sweaty, sweltering, sweltry, tart, the stake,
     thermogenesis, toasting, torrid, totally committed, trenchant,
     tropical, vesication, vituperative, white-hot, withering,
     zealous