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To burn superficially; to parch, or shrivel, the surface of, by heat; to subject to so much heat as changes color and texture without consuming; as, to scorch linen. Summer drouth or singed air never scorch thy tresses fair. Milton.

Rough with irregular points, or a broken surface; scraggy; as, a scragged backbone.

To rub over the surface of (something) with a sharp or rough instrument; to rub over with something that roughens by removing portions of the surface; to grate harshly over; to abrade; to make even, or bring to a required condition or form, by moving the sharp edge of an instrument breadthwise over the surface with pre…

To rub and tear or mark the surface of with something sharp or ragged; to scrape, roughen, or wound slightly by drawing something pointed or rough across, as the claws, the nails, a pin, or the like. Small sand-colored stones, so hard as to scratch glass.Grew. Be mindful, when invention fails., To scratch your head, an…

A surface, as that afforded by a curtain, sheet, wall, etc., upon which an image, as a picture, is thrown by a magic lantern, solar microscope, etc.

ing steam vessels. It is placed at the stern, and furnished with blades having helicoidal surfaces to act against the water in the manner of a screw. See Screw propeller, below.

To cut (anything) in such a way as to fit closely to a somewhat irregular surface, as a baseboard to a floor which is out of level, a board to the curves of a molding, or the like; -- so called because the workman marks, or scribe, with the compasses the line that he afterwards cuts.

Same as Skew surface. See under Skew. Linen scroll (Arch.) See under Linen. -- Scroll chuck (Mach.), an adjustable chuck, applicable to a lathe spindle, for centering and holding work, in which the jaws are adjusted and tightened simultaneously by turning a disk having in its face a spiral groove which is entered by t…

o move as if driven forward by something. The first nautilus that scudded upon the glassy surface of warm primeval oceans. I. Taylor. The wind was high; the vast white clouds scudded over the blue heaven. Beaconsfield.

The extraneous matter or impurities which rise to the surface of liquids in boiling or fermentation, or which form on the surface by other means; also, the scoria of metals in a molten state; dross. Some to remove the scum it did rise. Spenser.

ffect, in painting and drawing, by the application of a thin layer of opaque color to the surface of a painting, or part of the surface, which is too bright in color, or which requires harmonizing.

Anything like flakes or scales adhering to a surface. There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf. Milton.

Formed like a plate or salver; composed of platelike surfaces; as, the scutellated bone of a sturgeon. Woodward.

Having the anterior surface of the tarsus covered with scutella, or transverse scales, in the form of incomplete bands terminating at a groove on each side; -- said of certain birds.

The second and largest of the four parts forming the upper surface of a thoracic segment of an insect. It is preceded by the prescutum and followed by the scutellum. See the Illust. under Thorax.

One of the larger bodies of salt water, less than an ocean, found on the earth's surface; a body of salt water of second rank, generally forming part of, or connecting with, an ocean or a larger sea; as, the Mediterranean Sea; the Sea of Marmora; the North Sea; the Carribean Sea.

e or return of gas or air into a pipe, by which the open end of the pipe dips beneath the surface of water or other liquid, or a deep bend or sag in the pipe is filled with the liquid; a draintrap. Great seal. See under Great. -- Privy seal. See under Privy, a. -- Seal lock, a lock in which the keyhole is covered by…

The level of the surface of the sea; any surface on the same level with the sea.

ul American ascidian (Cynthia, or Halocynthia, pyriformis) having the size, form, velvety surface, and color of a ripe peach.

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. I'm seared with burning steel. Rowe. It was in vain that the amiable divi…