scorching

English

Adjective

scorching (comparative more scorching, superlative most scorching)

  1. Very hot.
    It was a scorching summer, and the ice-cream sellers plied a roaring trade.
  2. Bitterly sarcastic; scathing; withering.
    • 1860, Lucius Robinson Paige, A Commentary on the New Testament (volume 3, page 130)
      Very probably he resolved never to repeat the request which had drawn forth such a scorching rebuke; but there is no evidence of his determination to forsake his iniquitous practices generally.
  3. (Of speed when driving, running, etc.) very high.
    • 1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 186:
      Dan Patch clocked a scorching 1:55.5 flat.

Verb

scorching

  1. present participle of scorch

Noun

scorching (plural scorchings)

  1. The act or result of something being scorched.
    • 1839, The Lancet (volume 2, page 682)
      There were several slight scratches and scorchings about the face, sides of the neck and shoulders […]
    • 1997, Larry Dean Olsen, Outdoor Survival Skills (page 76)
      Green wood hardens after about four or five scorchings in the fire, but several scorchings are required to drive out the sap.
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