Result from Foreign Dictionaries (4 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Sear \Sear\, Sere \Sere\ (s[=e]r), a. [OE. seer, AS. se['a]r (assumed) fr. se['a]rian to wither; akin to D. zoor dry, LG. soor, OHG. sor[=e]n to wither, Gr. a"y`ein to parch, to dry, Skr. [,c]ush (for sush) to dry, to wither, Zend hush to dry. [root]152. Cf. {Austere}, {Sorrel}, a.] Dry; withered; no longer green; -- applied to leaves. --Milton. [1913 Webster] I have lived long enough; my way of life Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf. --Shak. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Sear \Sear\, n. [F. serre a grasp, pressing, fr. L. sera. See {Serry}.] The catch in a gunlock by which the hammer is held cocked or half cocked. [1913 Webster] {Sear spring}, the spring which causes the sear to catch in the notches by which the hammer is held. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Sear \Sear\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Seared}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Searing}.] [OE. seeren, AS. se['a]rian. See {Sear}, a.] 1. To wither; to dry up. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. To burn (the surface of) to dryness and hardness; to cauterize; to expose to a degree of heat such as changes the color or the hardness and texture of the surface; to scorch; to make callous; as, to sear the skin or flesh. Also used figuratively. [1913 Webster] I'm seared with burning steel. --Rowe. [1913 Webster] It was in vain that the amiable divine tried to give salutary pain to that seared conscience. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster] The discipline of war, being a discipline in destruction of life, is a discipline in callousness. Whatever sympathies exist are seared. --H. Spencer. [1913 Webster] Note: Sear is allied to scorch in signification; but it is applied primarily to animal flesh, and has special reference to the effect of heat in marking the surface hard. Scorch is applied to flesh, cloth, or any other substance, and has no reference to the effect of hardness. [1913 Webster] {To sear up}, to close by searing. "Cherish veins of good humor, and sear up those of ill." --Sir W. Temple. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: sear adj 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" [syn: {dried-up}, {sere}, {sear}, {shriveled}, {shrivelled}, {withered}] v 1: make very hot and dry; "The heat scorched the countryside" [syn: {sear}, {scorch}] 2: become superficially burned; "my eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames" [syn: {scorch}, {sear}, {singe}] 3: 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" [syn: {char}, {blacken}, {sear}, {scorch}] 4: cause to wither or parch from exposure to heat; "The sun parched the earth" [syn: {parch}, {sear}]