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scorch

 - 4 dictionary results

scorch

  [skawrch]
–verb (used with object)
1. to affect the color, taste, etc., of by burning slightly: The collar of the shirt was yellow where the iron had scorched it.
2. to parch or shrivel with heat: The sun scorched the grass.
3. to criticize severely.
4. Machinery. burn 1 (def. 23).
5. to destroy (crops, towns, etc.) by or as if by fire in the path of an invading army's advance.
–verb (used without object)
6. to become scorched: Milk scorches easily.
7. Informal. to travel or drive at high speed: The car scorched along the highway.
–noun
8. a superficial burn.
Use scorch in a Sentence
Origin:
1400–50; late ME scorchen, perh. b. scorcnen (< Scand; cf. ON skorpna to shrivel) and torch 1

Synonyms:
1. char, blister. See burn 1 . 3. excoriate, condemn.

Antonyms:
3. laud.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To scorch
scorch   (skôrch)   
v.   scorched, scorch·ing, scorch·es

v.   tr.

  1. To burn superficially so as to discolor or damage the texture of. See Synonyms at burn1.

  2. To wither or parch with intense heat.

  3. To destroy (land and buildings) by or as if by fire so as to leave nothing salvageable to an enemy army.

  4. To subject to severe censure; excoriate.

v.   intr.

  1. To become scorched or singed.

  2. To go or move at a very fast, often excessively fast rate.

n.  

  1. A slight or surface burn.

  2. A discoloration caused by heat.

  3. Brown spotting on plant leaves caused by fungi, heat, or lack of water.


[Middle English scorchen, possibly of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skorpna, to shrink, be shriveled.]
scorch'ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

scorch 
c.1200, perhaps from O.N. skorpna "to be shriveled," cognate with O.E. scrimman "to shrink, dry up." Or perhaps from O.Fr. escorchier "to strip off the skin," from V.L. excorticare "to flay," from ex- + L. cortex (gen. corticis) "cork;" but OED finds this not likely. Scorcher "very hot day" first attested 1874. Scorched earth military strategy is 1937, translation of Chinese jiaotu, used against the Japanese in their advance into China.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

scorch

symptom of plant disease in which tissue is "burned" because of unfavourable conditions or infection by bacteria or fungi. Unfavourable conditions include hot, dry wind in full sun, an imbalance of soil nutrients, altered water table or soil grade, deep planting, compacted shallow soil, paved surface over roots, salt drift near the ocean, low temperatures, air pollutants, and girdling roots. Scorch is common as dead areas along or between the veins and margins of leaves. Control involves correcting the causative environmental condition: growing plants in fertile soil in a protected location and maintaining vigour by proper watering, fertilizing, pruning, and mulching. See also sunscald.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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