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

112 Moby Thesaurus words for "scorching":
   acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acid, acidic, acidulent, acidulous,
   acrid, acrimonious, ardent, baking, biting, bitter, blazing,
   blistering, boiling, branding, broiling, burning, burning hot,
   calcination, canicular, carbonization, caustic, cauterization,
   cautery, cineration, combustion, concremation, corroding,
   corrosive, cracking, cremation, critical, cupellation, cutting,
   deflagration, destructive distillation, distillation, distilling,
   ebullient, excoriating, fanatic, feverish, fiery, flaming, flushed,
   grilling, hard-core, harsh, heated, hellish, hot, hot as fire,
   hot as hell, hotheaded, incineration, incisive, inflamed, keen,
   like a furnace, like an oven, madcap, mordacious, mordant,
   overheated, overwarm, oxidation, oxidization, parching, passionate,
   penetrating, piercing, piping hot, pyrolysis, red-hot, refining,
   roasting, scalding, scathing, scorification, searing, seething,
   self-immolation, sharp, simmering, singeing, sizzling,
   sizzling hot, smelting, smoking hot, stabbing, stinging, sudorific,
   suttee, sweating, sweaty, sweltering, sweltry, tart, the stake,
   thermogenesis, toasting, torrid, totally committed, trenchant,
   tropical, vesication, vituperative, white-hot, withering,
   zealous