▪ I. singe, n.
(sɪndʒ)
Also 7 sindge.
[f. the vb.]
The act or effect of singeing; a slight surface burn, a scorch. Also fig.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. iii. 34 Other incinerable substances were found so fresh, that they could feel no sindge from fire. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 80, I could not be cast into the furnace, and come forth without a singe. 1850 H. Martineau Hist. Peace iv. xiii. (1877) III. 123 Lafayette traversed a purgatory of human passions without a singe from any flame. 1855 Browning Bp. Blougram 722 Break fire's law.., although the penalty Be just a singe? 1888 Shorthouse Countess Eve xi, An appalling mystic light—the singe and glow of the flame of the pit! |
▪ II. singe, v.
(sɪndʒ)
Forms: 1 sæn(c)gan, sen(c)gan, 4 zeng, 4–6 senge (5 seenge), 7 sendge; 5–6 synge, 6 syndge, 6–8 sindge, 7 sindg, 6– singe. See also sing v.2
[OE. sencgan, = OFris. senga, singa (WFris. singe, dial. sinzje), MDu. and Du. zengen, MLG. and MHG. sengen (G. sengen, † sängen), related to Icel. sangr singed, sengja singed taste, Norw. sengra, sengla to smell of burning. The stem *sang- may be related to sing v.1 and have reference to the sound produced by violent singeing.]
1. trans. a. Of persons, etc.: To burn (something) superficially or lightly, to burn the ends or edges of (hair, wings, etc.); esp. to subject (the carcass of a pig, fowl, or other animal) to flame or fire in order to remove the bristles or hair.
| c 1000 in Thorpe Laws I. 436 Ᵹyme eac swan ðæt he æfter sticunge his slyht-swyn wel behweorfe, sæncge. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 349 For who so wolde senge a Cattes skyn, Thanne wolde the Cat wel dwellen in his In. a 1420 Wycliffite Bible Lev. xxiii. 11 marg., The eeris of corn weren sengid in fier, and the cornes..weren schakun out. 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. ii. 74 He wold not that they shold vse ony yron but to brenne and senge his heeris. 1530 Palsgr. 718/1 Take away this candell, I have synged my heare. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 152 b, With a flame made with strawe, or stickes, syndge him. 1626 T. H[awkins] tr. Caussin's Holy Crt. 42 No man blameth the candle..though butter flyes sindge theyr winges in it. 1675 Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 167 He..fetcht in two young pigs: not long he staid, But kill'd, sindg'd, jointed, roasted. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 112 ¶2 [He] either clipped the Wings, or singed the Tails, of his innocent Captives. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 57 Take your goose ready dressed, singe it and pour over it a quart of boiling milk. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 103 The hunters..will venture so near as sometimes to singe his hair with the flash of the rifle. 1886 Pascoe London of To-day xl. (ed. 3) 345 If the hair is..to be dressed, singed, shampooed. |
| fig. 1583 Greene Mamillia ii. Wks. (Grosart) II. 259 They are singed at the sight of her faire face. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 71 She had gone such lengths in the way of flirting with a recruiting officer, that her reputation was a little singed. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxix, I go forthwith..down the coast, to singe the King of Spain's beard. 1869 Browning Ring & Bk. vii. 1640 'Twas truth singed the lies And saved me. |
† b. To burn, consume with fire; to cauterize (a sore). Obs.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 5206 We sall his cite & him-selfe synge in-to poudire. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 242 Who will forget Catania? of high fame For pietie of brothers sindg'd in flame. 1621 Sanderson Serm. I. 171 It must needs be some grief..to the patient to have an old festered sore searched and singed. |
c. techn. To pass (a woven fabric) over a heated plate or roller, or through gas flame, in order to remove superfluous fibres, or to dress the nap.
| 1728, 1800 [see singeing vbl. n.]. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1139 In some shops, semi-cylinders of copper..have been substituted for those of iron, in singeing goods prior to bleaching them. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) I. 369 For goods to be finely printed both sides are singed. |
2. Of fire or flame: To burn (something) slightly or superficially. Also techn. (cf. 1 c).
| 1340 Ayenb. 229 Þet uer þet zengþ and bernþ ofte þe huyte robe of chastete and of maydenhod. 1494 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 27 They..take a light candell..which sengieth and brenneth away the cotton of the same fustyan. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 255 b, It singed trees and turned them up by the rootes. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ix. 79 Thus hath the candle sing'd the moath. 1659 Lovelace Poems (1864) 191 The fire Might sindge thy upper down attire. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 7 Sept. 1666, The..smoake and fiery vapour, continu'd so intense that my haire was almost sing'd. 1782 J. Brown Nat. & Rev. Relig. ii. iii. 202 It did not singe their clothes or hair. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) vii. 159 A bright flash of lightning seemed to singe our beards. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 813/2 The flame applied directly under the roller singes the cloth thoroughly. |
| transf. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. v. 312 The scorching sky Doth singe the sandy wilds of spiceful Barbary. |
† b. Used to describe the effect produced by intense cold. (Cf. burn v.1 13 d.) Obs.
| 1600 Holland Livy xxi. xxxii. 411 The cattell, sheepe, oxen, and horses, singed with cold. 1601 ― Pliny II. 319 Hogs grease..healeth burns and scaldings, yea, though one were scortched and sendged with snow. |
3. To take off, remove, by superficial burning.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 171 The Doctor, Whose beard they haue sing'd off with brands of fire. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xliv. 348 Depose their erroneous Doctrines, and Traditions, and have them as it were sindged off. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. viii. (ed. 4) 503 The galeon's colours being singed off the ensign-staff in the beginning of the engagement. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mech. 415 These operations consist generally of singing the superfluous fibres from the surface of the cloth, by drawing it over hot irons. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. ii. 48 Singeing-furnace, a heated surface of copper, over which the strip of cotton is drawn rapidly.., by which the light airy filaments are singed from the surface of the cloth. |
▪ III. singe
obs. f. sign n. and v.1, sing v.