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sear

UK/sɪə̯(ɹ)/ US/sɪː(ɹ)/ uncommon
verb (3) adjective (1)

verb

1.

make very hot and dry

  • “The heat scorched the countryside”
Synonyms
2.

become superficially burned

  • “my eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames”
Synonyms
3.

cause to wither or parch from exposure to heat

  • “The sun parched the earth”
Synonyms

adjective

1.

(used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture

  • “dried-up grass”
  • “the desert was edged with sere vegetation”
  • “shriveled leaves on the unwatered seedlings”
  • “withered vines”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Middle English sere, seer, seere, from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, sere, sear, withered, barren”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz (“dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ews- (“dry, parched”) (also reconstructed as *h₂sews-). Cognate with Dutch zoor (“dry, rough”), Low German soor (“dry”), German sohr (“parched, dried up”), dialectal Norwegian søyr (“the desiccation and death of a tree”), Lithuanian saũsas (“dry”), Ukrainian сухий (suxyj, “dry”), Polish suchy (“dry”), Homeric Ancient Greek αὖος (aûos, “dry”). Doublet of sere and sare.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.