ADJECTIVE (1)

1. hot and dry enough to burn or parch a surface;
- Example: "scorching heat"


ADVERB (1)

1. capable of causing burns;
- Example: "it was scorching hot"

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Summer drouth or sing[`e]d air
            Never scorch thy tresses fair.        --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To affect painfully with heat, or as with heat; to dry up
      with heat; to affect as by heat.
      [1913 Webster]

            Lashed by mad rage, and scorched by brutal fires.
                                                  --Prior.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To burn; to destroy by, or as by, fire.
      [1913 Webster]

            Power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
                                                  --Rev. xvi. 8.
      [1913 Webster]

            The fire that scorches me to death.   --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Scorching \Scorch"ing\, a.
   1. Burning; parching or shriveling with heat.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. sufficiently hot to cause scorching.
      [PJC] -- Scorch"ing*ly, adv. -- Scorch"ing*ness, n.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

scorching
    adv 1: capable of causing burns; "it was scorching hot"
    adj 1: hot and dry enough to burn or parch a surface; "scorching
           heat"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

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