parch

Etymology

From Middle English parchen, paarchen (“to parch; dry; roast”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of Middle English perchen (“to roast”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɑɹtʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɑːtʃ/

  Rhymes: -ɑː(r)tʃ

Verb

parch (third-person singular simple present parches, present participle parching, simple past and past participle parched)

1. (transitive) To burn the surface of, to scorch.

   The sun today could parch cement.

2. (transitive) To roast, as dry grain.
   • Bible, Leviticus xxiii. 14

     Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn.

3. (transitive) To dry to extremity; to shrivel with heat.

   The patient's mouth is parched from fever.

4. (transitive, colloquial) To make thirsty.

   We're parched, hon. Could you send up an ale from the cooler?

5. (transitive, archaic) To boil something slowly (Still used in Lancashire in parched peas, a type of mushy peas).
6. (intransitive) To become superficially burnt; be become sunburned.

   The locals watched, amused, as the tourists parched in the sun, having neglected to apply sunscreen or bring water.

Noun

parch (plural parches)

1. The condition of being parched.
   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 64:

     Yet here he is, not at the head, but somewhere toward the rear of the serpentine queue wending its way through all this parch […].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /parx/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

parch m inan

1. scab; a fungal disease of plants and the lesions it causes

Noun

parch m anim

1. (ethnic slur, dated) kike

Etymology

Back-formation from parchu (“to respect”).

Noun

parch m (uncountable)

1. respect
2. reverence, veneration

Mutation