Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - scorch

 I. verb  Etymology: Middle English; probably akin to Middle English scorcnen to become singed, scorklen to parch  Date: 14th century  transitive verb  1. to burn a surface of so as to change its color and texture  2.  a. to dry or shrivel with or as if with intense heat ; parch  b. to afflict painfully with censure or sarcasm  3. devastate; especially to destroy (as property of possible use to an advancing enemy) before abandoning — used in the phrase ~ed earth  intransitive verb  1. to become ~ed  2. to travel at great and usually excessive speed  3. to cause intense heat or mental anguish ~ing sun ~ing fury  • ~ingly adverb  II. noun  Date: 15th century  1. a result of ~ing  2. a browning of plant tissues usually from disease or heat  III. transitive verb  Etymology: Middle English, perhaps blend of scoren to score and scocchen to scotch  Date: 14th century dialect British cut, slash