▪ I. singed, ppl. a.1
(sɪndʒd)
Forms: 4 seynd, 5 seynt; 4 senged, 6 singde, 6–7 sindg'd, 7–8 sing'd, 7– singed.
[f. singe v. + -ed1.]
a. That has been subjected to the process of singeing; scorched or slightly burnt, or presenting the appearance of this; parched.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's T. 25 Milk and broun breed..Seynd Bacon and somtyme an Ey or tweye. c 1395 Plowman's Tale 19 (Thynne), He knew wel by hys senged snoute, He was a man wonte to walke about. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 13703, I sawh a wekke..Pyled and seynt as any kaat. 1594 1st Pt. Contention i. iv, Where Pluto in his firie Waggon sits, Ryding amidst the singde and parched smoakes. 1634 Milton Comus 928 Summer drouth, or singed air Never scorch thy tresses fair. 1693 Dryden Persius vi. 497 Shall I be fed With sodden Nettles, and a sing'd Sow's Head? 1700 ― Fables, Cock & Fox 34 Rashers of sindg'd bacon on the coals. 1725 Pope Odyss. xiv. 475 Then the sing'd members they with skill divide. 1820 Scott Monast. xvi, Flesh, which, in its sable and singed shape, seemed [etc.]. 1829 Griffith tr. Cuvier VIII. 42 Singed Grous, Pterocles Exustus. 1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning (ed. 2) 27 A yellow singed appearance is given by using soap with much resin, or much alkali. |
b. singed cat, in allusive use (see quots.). U.S. (Parallel Sc. allusive uses incorporate the related form singed ppl. a.2 (cf. quot. 1737).)
| 1836 Spirit of Times 9 Apr. 61/1 Without our Jersey friends bring on a ‘singed cat’, or some nag, now outside the fence, turns up a trump, the above comprise the entries for the 4 mile day. 1837 J. C. Neal Charcoal Sketches 48 His new friend, however, proved..to be like a singed cat, much better than he looked. 1847 Haliburton Old Judge I. ii. 44 It don't do to hang a feller for his looks, after all, that's a fact; for that crittur is like a singed cat, better nor he seems. 1858 in Bartlett Dict. Amer. (1859), We reckon there'll be fun; as a Cincinnati paper says Pryne is a perfect singed cat. 1859 Ibid., Singed cat, an epithet applied to a person whose appearance does him injustice. |
▪ II. singed, ppl. a.2 Sc. (and north.).
(ˈsɪŋɪt, sɪŋd)
Also 8–9 singet, 9 singit.
[f. sing v.2 + -ed1.]
= prec. Also fig. and Comb.
| a 1682 Sempill Blythsome Wedding 64 A sing'd sheep's head and a haggize. 1737 Ramsay Sc. Prov. (1750) 40 He's like the singed cat, better than he's likely. 1789 Burns Kirk's Alarm vii, Singet Sawney! Singet Sawney! Are ye huirdin' the penny? 1808 Jamieson, Singit-like, puny, shrivelled. 1857 J. Stewart Sk. Scot. Character 64 (E.D.D.), Your singit shargie o' a laddie. |