sear

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
sear/sɪə(r)/

▶verb

• 1 burn or scorch with a sudden intense heat.

  ■ brown (food) quickly at a high temperature.

• 2 (usu. as adj. searing) (of pain) be experienced as a sudden burning sensation.

• 3 archaic cause to wither or become insensitive.

▶adjective (also sere) literary withered.

– derivatives
searingly adverb.

– origin OE sēar (adj.), sēarian (v.), of Gmc origin.