Hypertext Webster Gateway: "scorching"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
Summer drouth or sing[`e]d air Never scorch thy
tresses fair. --Milton.
2. To affect painfully with heat, or as with heat; to dry up
with heat; to affect as by heat.
Lashed by mad rage, and scorched by brutal fires.
--Prior.
3. To burn; to destroy by, or as by, fire.
Power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
--Rev. xvi. 8.
The fire that scorches me to death. --Dryden.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Scorching \Scorch"ing\, a.
Burning; parching or shriveling with heat. --
{Scorch"ing*ly}, adv. -- {Scorch"ing*ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
scorching
adj : hot and dry enough to burn or parch a surface; "scorching
heat"
adv : capable of causing burns; "it was scorching hot"
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