scorch

scorch
    n 1: a surface burn [syn: {scorch}, {singe}]
    2: a plant disease that produces a browning or scorched
       appearance of plant tissues
    3: a discoloration caused by heat
    v 1: make very hot and dry; "The heat scorched the countryside"
         [syn: {sear}, {scorch}]
    2: become superficially burned; "my eyebrows singed when I bent
       over the flames" [syn: {scorch}, {sear}, {singe}]
    3: destroy completely by or as if by fire; "The wildfire
       scorched the forest and several homes"; "the invaders
       scorched the land"
    4: burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color; "The
       cook blackened the chicken breast"; "The fire charred the
       ceiling above the mantelpiece"; "the flames scorched the
       ceiling" [syn: {char}, {blacken}, {sear}, {scorch}]
    5: become scorched or singed under intense heat or dry
       conditions; "The exposed tree scorched in the hot sun"
    

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.
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            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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Scorch \Scorch\, v. i.
   1. To be burnt on the surface; to be parched; to be dried up.
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            Scatter a little mungy straw or fern amongst your
            seedlings, to prevent the roots from scorching.
                                                  --Mortimer.
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   2. To burn or be burnt.
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            He laid his long forefinger on the scarlet letter,
            which forthwith seemed to scorch into Hester's
            breast, as if it had been red hot.    --Hawthorne.
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   3. To ride or drive at great, usually at excessive, speed; --
      applied chiefly to automobilists and bicyclists. [Colloq.]
      -- {Scorch"er}, n. [Colloq.]
    

224 Moby Thesaurus words for "scorch":
      abrade, abrasion, air-dry, anhydrate, assail, attack, attaint,
      bake, ball the jack, bark, barrel, be in heat, bedaub, besmear,
      besmirch, besmoke, bestain, blacken, blaze, blemish, blister,
      bloody, bloom, blot, blur, boil, boom, bowl along, brand, break,
      breeze, breeze along, broil, brush, burn, burn in, burn off, cast,
      castigate, cauterize, chafe, char, check, chip, choke, claw, clip,
      coal, combust, concussion, cook, crack, crackle, craze, cupel,
      cure, cut, cut along, darken, daub, dehumidify, dehydrate,
      desiccate, dirty, discolor, drain, dry, evaporate, excoriate,
      exsiccate, fire, flame, flame up, flare, flare up, flash burn,
      flay, fleet, flicker, flit, flush, fly, fly low, foot, found,
      fracture, fray, frazzle, fret, fry, fustigate, gall, gash, gasp,
      glow, go fast, highball, hurt, incandesce, incise, incision,
      injure, injury, insolate, kiln, lacerate, laceration, lash, lesion,
      maim, make knots, make mincemeat of, mark, mat burn, maul, melt,
      mortal wound, mummify, mutilate, mutilation, nip,
      outstrip the wind, oxidate, oxidize, pant, parch, pierce, plot,
      pour it on, puncture, pyrolyze, radiate heat, rend, rent, rip,
      roast, rub, run, rupture, savage, scald, scarify, scathe, scotch,
      scourge, scrape, scratch, scuff, sear, second-degree burn, seethe,
      shimmer with heat, shrivel, simmer, singe, sizzle, skim, skin,
      skin alive, slash, slit, slubber, slur, smear, smirch, smoke,
      smolder, smother, soak up, soil, solder, sore, spark, speed,
      sponge, sprain, stab, stab wound, stain, steam, stew, stick,
      stifle, stigmatize, storm along, strain, suffocate, sun, sun-dry,
      sunburn, sunscald, swab, sweat, sweep, swelter, swinge, taint,
      tarnish, tear, tear along, third-degree burn, thunder along, toast,
      torrefy, towel, trauma, traumatize, trounce, vesicate, vulcanize,
      weazen, weld, whisk, whiz, windburn, wipe, wither, wizen, wound,
      wounds immedicable, wrench, zing, zip, zoom