scathing

Verb

scathe (third-person singular simple present scathes, present participle scathing, simple past and past participle scathed)

1. (Scotland, UK, archaic, dialectal, transitive) To harm or injure (someone or something) physically.
   • This trick may chance to ſcath you I knovv vvhat,
     You muſt contrarie me, […]c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]

   Synonyms:

   damage, wound, abuse, annoy, bewound, damnify, dere, do damage to, do for, do ill

   1. (Scotland, UK, archaic, dialectal, obsolete, specifically) To cause monetary loss to (someone).
      • VVell goe too vvild oates, ſpend thrift, prodigall,
        Ile croſſe thy name quite from my reckoning booke:
        For theſe accounts, faith it ſhall skathe thee ſomevvhat,
        I vvill not ſay vvhat ſomevvhat it ſhall be.1602, [Thomas Heywood], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie, wherein is Shewed How a Man may Chuse a Good Wife from a Bad. […], London: […] [Thomas Creede] for Mathew Lawe, […], →OCLC; reprinted as How a...
2. (UK, archaic, broadly, dialectal, literary, poetic) To harm, injure, or destroy (someone or something) by fire, lightning, or some other heat source; to blast; to scorch; to wither.
   • The shout was hushed on lake and fell,
     The Monk resumed his muttered spell.
     Dismal and low its accents came,
     The while he scathed the Cross with flame; […]1810, Walter Scott, “Canto III. The Gathering.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and...

   Synonyms:

   burn, forsweal, incinerate, singe, torch, burn away, burn down, burn up, burn to a crisp, char up

3. (UK, archaic, dialectal, figuratively, transitive) To severely hurt (someone's feelings, soul, etc., or something intangible) through acts, words spoken, etc.
   • There are some strokes of calamity that scathe and scorch the soul—that penetrate to the vital seat of happiness—and blast it, never again to put forth bud or blossom.1819 July 31, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Broken Heart”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number II, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC...

   Synonyms:

   affront, wound, abuse, burn, carry, cut down, disrespect, dis, diss, give stick

See all 8 meanings of scathe