singe Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a surface burn
    scorch.
  2. verb burn superficially or lightly
    swinge.
    • I singed my eyebrows
  3. verb become superficially burned
    sear; scorch.
    • my eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames

WordNet

Singe transitive verb
Etymology
OE. sengen, AS. sengan in besengan (akin to D. zengen, G. sengen), originally, to cause to sing, fr. AS. singan to sing, in allusion to the singing or hissing sound often produced when a substance is singed, or slightly burned. See Sing.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Singed ; present participle & verbal noun Singeing
Definitions
  1. To burn slightly or superficially; to burn the surface of; to burn the ends or outside of; as, to singe the hair or the skin.
    You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, . . . Singe my white head! Shak.
    I singed the toes of an ape through a burning glass. L'Estrange.
  2. (a) To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly over a red-hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to dyeing it. (b) To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken or the like) by passing it over a flame.
Singe noun
Definitions
  1. A burning of the surface; a slight burn.

Webster 1913