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scorching

 - 5 dictionary results
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scorch⋅ing

  [skawr-ching]
Use scorching in a Sentence
–adjective
1. burning; very hot.
2. caustic or scathing: a scorching denunciation.
Origin:
1555–65; scorch + -ing 2

Related forms:
scorch⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
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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.
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. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To scorching
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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Slang Dictionary
scorching

  1. mod.
    winning at gambling; about to win something big. : Let me roll again. I'm really scorching.
  2. mod.
    caustic. : That remark was really scorching.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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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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