sear

sear ¹  (sîr)

v. seared, sear·ing, sears

v.tr.

1. To char, scorch, or burn the surface of with or as if with a hot instrument. See Synonyms at burn¹.

2. To cause to dry up and wither.

v.intr.

To become withered or dried up.

n.

A condition, such as a scar, produced by searing.

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[Middle English seren, from Old English sarian, to wither, from sar, withered.]

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sear ²  (sîr)

n.

The catch in a gunlock that keeps the hammer halfcocked or fully cocked.

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[Probably French serre, something that grasps, from Old French, lock, from serrer, to grasp, from Vulgar Latin *serrre, from Late Latin serre, to bolt, from Latin sera, bar, bolt; see ser-² in Indo-European roots.]

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sear ³  (sîr)

adj.

Variant of sere¹.

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sear¹

vb (tr)

1. to scorch or burn the surface of

2. to brand with a hot iron

3. to cause to wither or dry up

4. Rare to make callous or unfeeling

n

a mark caused by searing

adj

Poetic dried up

[Old English sēarian to become withered, from sēar withered; related to Old High German sōrēn, Greek hauos dry, Sanskrit sōsa drought]

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sear²

n

(Military / Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) the catch in the lock of a small firearm that holds the hammer or firing pin cocked

[probably from Old French serre a clasp, from serrer to hold firmly, from Late Latin sērāre to bolt, from Latin sera a bar]

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	sear - make very hot and dry; "The heat scorched the countryside" scorch heat, heat up - make hot or hotter; "the sun heats the oceans"; "heat the water on the stove" sizzle - burn or sear with a sizzling sound; "The fat sizzled in the pan"
	2.	sear - become superficially burned; "my eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames" scorch, singe burn, combust - undergo combustion; "Maple wood burns well"
	3.	sear - 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" blacken, char, scorch cookery, cooking, preparation - the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat; "cooking can be a great art"; "people are needed who have experience in cookery"; "he left the preparation of meals to his wife" burn - burn with heat, fire, or radiation; "The iron burnt a hole in my dress" singe, swinge - burn superficially or lightly; "I singed my eyebrows"
	4.	sear - cause to wither or parch from exposure to heat; "The sun parched the earth" parch dry, dry out - remove the moisture from and make dry; "dry clothes"; "dry hair"
Adj.	1.	sear - (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" dried-up, sere, shriveled, shrivelled, withered botany, flora, vegetation - all the plant life in a particular region or period; "Pleistocene vegetation"; "the flora of southern California"; "the botany of China" dry - free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet; "dry land"; "dry clothes"; "a dry climate"; "dry splintery boards"; "a dry river bed"; "the paint is dry"

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sear

verb

1. wither, burn, blight, brand, scorch, sizzle, shrivel, cauterize, desiccate, dry up or out Grass fires have seared the land.

2. flash fry, brown, fry quickly Sear the red pepper strips until they start to blacken.

Translations

sear [sɪəʳ] VT (= wither) → secar, marchitar (Med) → cauterizar; [pain etc] → punzar; (= scorch) → chamuscar, quemar
it was seared into my memory → me quedó grabado en la memoria

sear through VI + PREP [+ walls, metal] → penetrar a través de

sear

vt

(= burn: hot metal, water etc) → verbrennen; (pain) → durchzucken; (Med: = cauterize) → ausbrennen; (Cook: = brown quickly) → rasch anbraten; (fig) → zutiefst treffen

(= scorch, wither: sun, wind) → ausdörren, austrocknen

sear [sɪəʳ] vt (Culin) (meat) → scottare; (scorch) → bruciare