Library / English Dictionary

PARCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to wither or parch from exposure to heat

Example:

The sun parched the earth

Synonyms:

parch; sear

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "parch" is one way to...):

dry; dry out (remove the moisture from and make dry)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

But the heat grew greater as soon as noon came on, till at last, as he found himself on a wide heath that would take him more than an hour to cross, he began to be so hot and parched that his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

How, as that somebody slowly settled down into myself, did I begin to parch, and feel as if my outer covering of skin were a hard board; my tongue the bottom of an empty kettle, furred with long service, and burning up over a slow fire; the palms of my hands, hot plates of metal which no ice could cool!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In the morning I went to the court; my lips and throat were parched.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

"A Mexican with a knife, miss," he answered, moistening his parched lips and clearing his throat.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Often, when all was dry, the heavens cloudless, and I was parched by thirst, a slight cloud would bedim the sky, shed the few drops that revived me, and vanish.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I attempted to accompany them and proceeded a short distance from the house, but my head whirled round, my steps were like those of a drunken man, I fell at last in a state of utter exhaustion; a film covered my eyes, and my skin was parched with the heat of fever.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)