- Scorch
- 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. [1913 Webster]
2. To affect painfully with heat, or as with heat; to dry up with heat; to affect as by heat. [1913 Webster]
Lashed by mad rage, and scorched by brutal fires. --Prior. [1913 Webster]
3. To burn; to destroy by, or as by, fire. [1913 Webster]
Power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. --Rev. xvi. 8. [1913 Webster]
The fire that scorches me to death. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
