Parch \Parch\ (p[aum]rch), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Parched}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Parching}.] [OE. perchen to pierce, hence used of a piercing heat or cold, OF. perchier, another form of percier, F. percer. See {Pierce}.] 1. To burn the surface of; to scorch; to roast over the fire, as dry grain; as, to parch the skin; to parch corn.
Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn. --Lev. xxiii. 14.
2. To dry to extremity; to shrivel with heat; as, the mouth is parched from fever.
At the desert camp at Shaalan _ 25 miles from Rusweishid, where 41,000 people await transport home _ refugees are dying from exposure in the parching sun and chilling temperatures at night, the aid workers said Monday.
Dole won an amendment Tuesday exempting businesses affected by the drought that is parching most of the Farm Belt and other natural disasters from having to provide the early layoff notices.
And hot weather has accompanied the parching.
A drought parching much of the country dropped water levels in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, making the waterways unnavigable Thursday and meaning "major-league" losses for the inland shipping industry.