Etymology
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parch (v.)

late 14c., "to roast or dry" (peas, beans, corn, etc.), a word of uncertain origin. Klein and OED reject derivations from Old North French perchier (Old French percer) "to pierce" and Latin persiccare "to dry thoroughly." Century Dictionary, The Middle English Compendium, and Barnhart suggest it could be from Middle English perchen, a variant of perishen "to perish" (see perish). Klein "tentatively" suggests a back-formation from parchment. A surname Parchecorn is attested from mid-14c. Meaning "to dry with excessive heat, expose to the strong action of fire but without burning" is from mid-15c. Related: Parched; parching.

Entries linking to parch

perish (v.)

late 13c., perishen, "to die, be killed, pass away; suffer spiritual death, be damned," from periss- present participle stem of Old French perir "perish, be lost, be shipwrecked" (12c.), from Latin perire "to be lost, perish," literally "to go through," from per "through, completely, to destruction" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "through") + ire "to go" (from PIE root *ei- "to go").

From mid-14c. of physical objects, "decay, come to destruction." In Middle English also transitive, "to destroy, to kill" (c. 1300). Related: Perished; perishing. Perisher is by 1888 as a term of contempt, originally "one who destroys," but it was sometimes used with an overtone of pity, as if "one likely to perish."

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Definitions of parch

parch (v.)
cause to wither or parch from exposure to heat;
The sun parched the earth
Synonyms: sear
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near parch

paratransit

paratrooper

paratroops

parboil

parcel

parch

parcheesi

parchment

pard

pardon

pardonable

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