| 释义 |
▪ I. scorched, ppl. a.1|skɔːtʃt|
[f. scorch v.1 + -ed1.]
1. a. Burnt and discoloured by heat, touched by fire.
1595Shakes. John iii. i. 278 And falshood, falshood cures, as fire cooles fire Within the scorched veines of one new burn'd. 1639G. Daniel Ecclus. xxxviii. 81 The Smith..To apt the Mettall; thrusts his scorched Browes Into the flames. 1715–20Pope Iliad xxi. 14 As the scorch'd Locusts from their Fields retire, While fast behind them runs the Blaze of Fire. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam iii. 1365 My scorched limbs he wound In linen moist and balmy. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 397 ‘People should be careful with fire’, I say sententiously and they all agree with me, the scorched ones enthusiastically.
b. scorched earth: used attrib. of a policy of destroying all means of sustenance or supply in a country that might be of use to an invading enemy, or of orders, operations, etc., designed to effect this policy; also transf. and fig., and absol.
Apparently a translation of Chinese jiāotŭ (zhèngcè) scorched earth (policy).
1937C. McDonald in Times 6 Dec. 12/2 The populace..are still disturbed, in spite of official denials, by wild rumours of a ‘scorched earth policy’ of burning the city before the Japanese enter. 1938Times 21 Feb. 15/6 (heading) Scorched earth. 1941Hutchinson's Pictorial Hist. of War 1 Oct.–23 Dec. 115 The Soviet have left nothing but scorched earth and derelict, burned-out buildings to the invaders. 1941E. Snow Scorched Earth ii. iv. 60 The ‘scorched-earth’ policy was credited to General Pai Tsung-hsi, the ablest strategist on Chiang's staff. 1945Daily Herald 20 Apr. 1/3 A special ‘scorched earth’ order issued by Hitler. 1959Listener 12 Nov. 818/2 Remember the scorched earth, too. How can Russia forget the menace of Germany? 1960Twentieth Century July 63 The so-called concentration camps..were part of Kitchener's ‘scorched earth’ strategy. 1963Wodehouse Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves xvii. 135 The kitchen maid..always adopts the scorched earth policy when preparing a meal. 1976H. Wilson Governance of Britain iii. 44, I was announcing in Parliament the discovery of documents envisaging an IRA offensive and virtual ‘scorched earth’ policy.
2. a. Parched by the sun.
a1593Marlowe Lucan i. 208 Like to a Lyon of scortcht desart Affricke. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa Descr. Places 43 Thither do the people resort, partly for the watring of their scorched grounds. 1707Mortimer Husb., Kalendar July, The Earth now would be glad of refreshing showers to moisten the scorched Vegetables. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam x. iv, Like the roaring Of fire, whose floods the wild deer circumvent In the scorched pastures of the South.
b. Comb., as scorched-looking adj.
1970T. Hughes Crow 11 Who owns this bristly scorched-looking face?
3. Nat. Hist.
†a. Having an appearance as if shrivelled by heat (obs.).
b. Having colouring resembling a scorch.
1682Lister Gœdart of Insects 33, I could never Observe from these kind of Catterpillars a perfect and compleat Butterfly, but with contracted, and as it were scorched Wings, not to be expanded, or fit for flight. 1832J. Rennie Butterfl. & M. 162 The Scorched Blunt-wing. Ibid. Index 276 Scorched Carpet. Scorched Wing. 1845Lindley Sch. Bot. vi. (1858) 84 The scales scorched at the apex. 1859Miss Pratt Brit. Grasses 37 Carex ustulata (Scorched Alpine Sedge).
▪ II. † scorched, ppl. a.2 Obs. rare—1.
[f. scorch v.3 + -ed1.]
Slashed, divided.
1823Scott Quentin D. i, The members of the League..like a scorched snake might re-unite. |