scorcher

Noun

scorcher (plural scorchers)

1. (literally) One who, or that which, scorches.

   Synonyms:

   sizzler

2. (colloquial) A very hot day.
   • Tomorrow will be a scorcher, so carry water and use sunscreen if you're going out.
   • Meteorologists are prepping their “new record high temperature” press releases, tabloid editors are readying their ‘“phwoar, what a scorcher” headlines (while happily ignoring the climate emergency doing the scorching) and everyone else is preparing to hunker down somewhere cool until it’s all over.2022 July 15, Gwilym Mumford, “The Guide #43: Pop culture picks to help you through a heatwave”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms:

   sizzler, stinker

3. A very good goal, notably made with a very hard shot.
   • What a scorcher! See the net reverberate!
   • Marcos Alonso scorcher secures Chelsea nervy victory over Southampton [title]2017 December 16, Paul MacInnes, “Marcos Alonso scorcher secures Chelsea nervy victory over Southampton”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
4. (colloquial) A caustic rebuke or criticism.
5. (colloquial, dated) A bad person.
   • `Yes, sir - of course, sir, that's just what he said they was - 'cautions, downright scorchers' - sir, and I'm sure I don't doubt it, seeing what I know of them, and their hot-potting ways,' went on Job sadly.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
6. (colloquial, dated) One who rides a bicycle furiously on a public highway.
   • “You're arrested for fast riding.”
     When the scorcher heard the shout
     He looked o'er his shoulder,
     And he didn't do a thing
     But pedal all the harder
     And make the welkin ring.1897, “The copper and the scorcher”, in Edmond Redmond, editor, Lyra Cyclus […] , Rochester, NY, page 63