Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Scorch \Scorch\, v. i.
   1. To be burnt on the surface; to be parched; to be dried up.

            Scatter a little mungy straw or fern amongst your
            seedlings, to prevent the roots from scorching.
                                                  --Mortimer.

   2. To burn or be burnt.

            He laid his long forefinger on the scarlet letter,
            which forthwith seemed to scorch into Hester's
            breast, as if it had been red hot.    --Hawthorne.

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.

Scorch \Scorch\, v. i.
   To ride or drive at great, usually at excessive, speed; --
   applied chiefly to automobilists and bicyclists. [Colloq.] --
   {Scorch"er}, n. [Colloq.]

Source : WordNet®

scorch
     n 1: a surface burn [syn: {singe}]
     2: a plant disease that produces a browning or scorched
        appearance of plant tissues
     3: a discoloration caused by heat
     v 1: make very hot and dry; "The heat scorched the countryside"
          [syn: {sear}]
     2: become superficially burned; "my eyebrows singed when I bent
        over the flames" [syn: {sear}, {singe}]
     3: destroy completely by or as if by fire; "The wildfire
        scorched the forest and several homes"; "the invaders
        scorched the land"
     4: burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color; "The
        cook blackened the chicken breast"; "The fire charred the
        ceiling above the mantelpiece"; "the flames scorched the
        ceiling" [syn: {char}, {blacken}]
     5: become scorched or singed under intense heat or dry
        conditions; "The exposed tree scorched in the hot sun"