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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)