[syn: scorch, sear, singe]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Singe \Singe\ (s[i^]nj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Singed
(s[i^]njd); p. pr. & vb. n. Singeing (s[i^]nj"[i^]ng).]
[OE. sengen, AS. sengan in besengan (akin to D. zengen, G.
sengen), originally, to cause to sing, fr. AS. singan to
sing, in allusion to the singing or hissing sound often
produced when a substance is singed, or slightly burned. See
Sing.]
1. To burn slightly or superficially; to burn the surface of;
to burn the ends or outside of; as, to singe the hair or
the skin.
[1913 Webster]
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, . . .
Singe my white head! --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
I singed the toes of an ape through a burning glass.
--L'Estrange.
[1913 Webster]
2.
(a) To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly
over a red-hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to
dyeing it.
(b) To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken or
the like) by passing it over a flame.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Singe \Singe\, n.
A burning of the surface; a slight burn.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
singe
n 1: a surface burn [syn: scorch, singe]
v 1: burn superficially or lightly; "I singed my eyebrows" [syn:
singe, swinge]
2: become superficially burned; "my eyebrows singed when I bent
over the flames" [syn: scorch, sear, singe]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
56 Moby Thesaurus words for "singe":
attaint, bedaub, besmear, besmirch, besmoke, bestain, blacken,
blaze, blister, blur, brand, burn, burn in, burn off, cast,
cauterize, char, coal, crack, cupel, darken, daub, dirty, discolor,
flame, found, mark, mat burn, oxidate, oxidize, parch, pyrolyze,
scald, scorch, sear, second-degree burn, slubber, slur, smear,
smirch, smoke, soil, solder, stain, stigmatize, sunburn, sunscald,
swinge, taint, tarnish, third-degree burn, torrefy, vesicate,
vulcanize, weld, windburn