Singe

4 definitions found

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

  Singe \Singe\ (s[i^]nj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Singed}
     (s[i^]njd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Singeing} (s[i^]nj"[i^]ng).]
     [OE. sengen, AS. sengan in besengan (akin to D. zengen, G.
     sengen), originally, to cause to sing, fr. AS. singan to
     sing, in allusion to the singing or hissing sound often
     produced when a substance is singed, or slightly burned. See


     {Sing}.]
     1. To burn slightly or superficially; to burn the surface of;
        to burn the ends or outside of; as, to singe the hair or
        the skin.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, . . .
              Singe my white head!                  --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I singed the toes of an ape through a burning glass.
                                                    --L'Estrange.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2.
        (a) To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly
            over a red-hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to
            dyeing it.
        (b) To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken or
            the like) by passing it over a flame.
            [1913 Webster]

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

  Singe \Singe\, n.
     A burning of the surface; a slight burn.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  singe
       n : a surface burn [syn: {scorch}]
       v 1: burn superficially or lightly; "I singed my eyebrows" [syn:
            {swinge}]
       2: become superficially burned; "my eyebrows singed when I bent
          over the flames" [syn: {scorch}, {sear}]

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

  56 Moby Thesaurus words for "singe":
     attaint, bedaub, besmear, besmirch, besmoke, bestain, blacken,
     blaze, blister, blur, brand, burn, burn in, burn off, cast,
     cauterize, char, coal, crack, cupel, darken, daub, dirty, discolor,
     flame, found, mark, mat burn, oxidate, oxidize, parch, pyrolyze,
     scald, scorch, sear, second-degree burn, slubber, slur, smear,
     smirch, smoke, soil, solder, stain, stigmatize, sunburn, sunscald,
     swinge, taint, tarnish, third-degree burn, torrefy, vesicate,
     vulcanize, weld, windburn