parch
Americanverb (used with object)
-
parches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
parched,
past participle, past
-
parching
present participle
-
to make extremely, excessively, or completely dry, as heat, sun, and wind do.
-
to make dry, hot, or thirsty.
Walking in the sun parched his throat.
-
to dry (peas, beans, grain, etc.) by exposure to heat without burning; to toast or roast slightly.
A staple of the Indian diet was parched corn.
-
to dry or shrivel with cold.
verb (used without object)
-
parches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
parched,
past participle, past
-
parching
present participle
-
to suffer from heat, thirst, or need of water.
-
to become parched; undergo drying by heat.
-
to dry (usually followed byup ).
verb
-
to deprive or be deprived of water; dry up
the sun parches the fields
-
(tr; usually passive) to make very thirsty
I was parched after the run
-
(tr) to roast (corn, etc) lightly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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parchsimple
-
parchessimple
-
have parchedperfect
-
has parchedperfect
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am parchingprogressive
-
are parchingprogressive
-
is parchingprogressive
-
have been parchingperfect progressive
-
has been parchingperfect progressive
Past
-
parchedsimple
-
had parchedperfect
-
was parchingprogressive
-
were parchingprogressive
-
had been parchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of parch
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English perchen; further origin unknown
Explanation
If you don't water your lawn all summer, the hot weather will parch the grass until it's brown and withered. To parch is to dry up or wither due to sunlight or heat. The verb parch is often used in the context of plants and people. Crops will parch during a drought. A patient's skin will parch during an intense fever. If you're a fan of cooking shows, you may hear the word used in a less dire way. A chef may "parch some corn," which basically means she will roast it lightly. Parch can also mean "to make thirsty," as in "After running a marathon in this heat, you'll feel parched."
Vocabulary lists containing parch
The Birchbark House
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"Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats
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Shabanu
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Now more frequent and more intense, they destroy ground vegetation and parch the earth, which kills the ants and termites that pangolins survive on.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2023
The parch begins in autumn, just as trees across the region shed their colorful leaves—a highly flammable fuel for wildfires.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 23, 2023
Both developments, he said, are caused by rising global temperatures, which intensify storms during some seasons, then parch the landscape during others.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 19, 2022
Many have fled, heading to neighboring Iran or living in abject poverty in camps for the displaced within Afghanistan as repeated droughts parch the land and shrivel pastures.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2021
They parch meal in the oven and bile it and drink the liquor.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Texas Narratives, Part 1 by Work Projects Administration
The unusual intensity of some of the fires underlines the increasing risk the continent faces as climate change parches vegetation and makes the emergencies more extreme, scientists say.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
The Great Salt Lake has already shrunk by two-thirds, as a broad swath of Utah around it parches.
From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2022
Hot, dry weather parches the landscape, creating more fuel to feed fires.
From The Verge ● Aug. 6, 2021
When the chicks are older and the summer sun parches the landscape, she will lead them to higher altitudes for water and cooler temperatures.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2018
The Sun, now while he is single, parches up the marsh, and compels us to die miserably in our arid homes.
From Aesop's Fables Translated by George Fyler Townsend by George Fyler Townsend
But days later, amid unrelenting sun and parched soil, the riverbed was dry again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Once the flames escaped, they spread into the rainforest's parched understory, the layer of vegetation growing beneath the taller trees.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026
The season’s first Santa Ana wind event will begin Wednesday and ramp up Thursday, bringing significant fire risk to parched Los Angeles County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
The Daily Star follows with the same headline, showing a parched Ascot racecourse on its front page.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Some of them chewed raw seal meat to swallow the blood and ease their parched throats.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
They are fighting a perilous battle with limited weapons against fires blamed in part on a stronger-than-usual episode of the El Nino climate phenomenon parching Southeast Asia.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
On the other hand, when the sponge dries out, it has even more capacity to suck up moisture from the soil and plants below, parching the landscape and turning it into tinder.
From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2025
A parching lack of rainfall extended the fire season into the normally wet month of January.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2025
The trend is likely to continue as the climate grows warmer and drier, reducing snowpacks, increasing evaporation and parching soils that absorb runoff.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2022
They already had a pile of birds large enough to fill the biggest parching tray, which Angeline had fetched from the camp.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
