parch

Etymology

From Middle English parchen, paarchen (“to parch; dry; roast”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of Middle English perchen (“to roast”).

verb

1. (transitive) To burn the surface of, to scorch.
   The sun today could parch cement.
2. (transitive) To roast, as dry grain.
3. (transitive) To dry to extremity; to shrivel with heat.
   The patient’s mouth is parched from fever.
   The last day's march was very painful, for the north wind, blowing full in their faces, parched and benumbed the men. 1857, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, A History of All Nations, page 101
4. (transitive, colloquial) To make very thirsty.
   In my haste I stumbled , and fell over one of the wounded; he groaned, and prayed me for a cup of water to cool the thirst that parched him. 1828, George Croly, Salathiel: A Story of the Past, the Present, and the Future, page 65
   Serpents bit them, thirst parched them, Amalekites assailed them. February 1, 1870, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “The Eagle and the Hen”, in The Sword and the Trowel, page 52
   They had no water on the wreck, and a consuming thirst parched them. 1882, William Dean Howells, A Woman's Reason, page 245
   Whether it was the cup he drank from, or the thirst that parched him, he took no thought, but it was the sweetest drink that ever passed his lips. 1919, David Anderson, The Blue Moon: A Tale of the Flatwoods, page 245
   That there had been certain couplings was only because in opening up tunnels of betrayal and shadows in forbidden bodies and imaginations, they were quenching the thirst for Artur that parched them all, that they all professed in limitless ardour. 1996, Xosé Luis Méndez Ferrín, Them and Other Stories, page 159
   Pete sipped RC. Bennies parched him bad. 2011, James Ellroy, The Cold Six Thousand, page 399
   We're parched, hon. Could you send up an ale from the cooler?
5. (transitive, archaic) To boil something slowly (Still used in Lancashire in parched peas, a type of mushy peas).
6. (intransitive) To become superficially burnt; to become sunburned.
   The locals watched, amused, as the tourists parched in the sun, having neglected to apply sunscreen or bring water.

noun

1. The condition of being parched.
   Yet here he is, not at the head, but somewhere toward the rear of the serpentine queue wending its way through all this parch […]. 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 64