scorch. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

scorch

PRONUNCIATION:	skôrch
VERB:	Inflected forms: scorched, scorch·ing, scorch·es
TRANSITIVE VERB:	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.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To become scorched or singed. 2. To go or move at a very fast, often excessively fast rate.
NOUN:	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.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English scorchen, possibly of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skorpna, to shrink, be shriveled.
OTHER FORMS:	scorching·ly —ADVERB


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.