sere

Multiple Entries:
  sere    sear  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
sere1

▶adjective variant spelling of sear.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
sere2 /sɪə/

▶noun Ecology a series of plant or animal communities formed by succession.

– origin early 20th cent.: from L. serere ‘join in a series’.

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.