CHAR (charred, charring)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: charred    , charring   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does char mean? 

• CHAR (noun)
  The noun CHAR has 3 senses:

1. a charred substance

2. a human female employed to do housework

3. any of several small trout-like fish of the genus Salvelinus

  Familiarity information: CHAR used as a noun is uncommon.

• CHAR (verb)
  The verb CHAR has 2 senses:

1. burn to charcoal

2. burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color

  Familiarity information: CHAR used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A charred substance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("char" is a kind of...):

atomic number 6; C; carbon (an abundant nonmetallic tetravalent element occurring in three allotropic forms: amorphous carbon and graphite and diamond; occurs in all organic compounds)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "char"):

animal black; animal charcoal; bone black; bone char (black substance containing char in the form of carbonized bone; used as a black pigment)

snuff (the charred portion of a candlewick)

Derivation:

char (burn to charcoal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A human female employed to do housework

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

char; charwoman; cleaning lady; cleaning woman; woman

Context example:

I have a woman who comes in four hours a day while I write

Hypernyms ("char" is a kind of...):

cleaner (someone whose occupation is cleaning)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any of several small trout-like fish of the genus Salvelinus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

char; charr

Hypernyms ("char" is a kind of...):

salmonid (soft-finned fishes of cold and temperate waters)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "char"):

Arctic char; Salvelinus alpinus (small trout of northern waters; landlocked populations in Quebec and northern New England)

Holonyms ("char" is a member of...):

genus Salvelinus; Salvelinus (brook trout)

• CHAR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they char    ... he / she / it chars   
Past simple: charred   
Past participle: charred   
-ing form: charring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Burn to charcoal

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

char; coal

Context example:

Without a drenching rain, the forest fire will char everything

Hypernyms (to "char" is one way to...):

burn; combust (cause to burn or combust)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

char (a charred substance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

blacken; char; scorch; sear

Context example:

the flames scorched the ceiling

Hypernyms (to "char" is one way to...):

burn (damage by burning with heat, fire, or radiation)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "char"):

singe; swinge (burn superficially or lightly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

But you cannot light it at a lamp without getting the bowl charred.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, well, I daresay that a couple of rabbits would account both for the blood and for the charred ashes.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then from the table he took a platter heaped with small pieces of charred bone.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In her right hand was found the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and was sharpened to a fine point.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

As she sat with the paper folded between her hands, the charred log fell asunder.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Some papers were found charred in the grate—and the papers were Lord Avon’s.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is found in car exhaust, smoke from wood fires, tobacco, oil and gas products, charred or grilled foods, and other sources.

(Benzo(a)pyrene, NCI Dictionary)

I think, scathed as you look, and charred and scorched, there must be a little sense of life in you yet, rising out of that adhesion at the faithful, honest roots: you will never have green leaves more—never more see birds making nests and singing idyls in your boughs; the time of pleasure and love is over with you: but you are not desolate: each of you has a comrade to sympathise with him in his decay.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Inside they were warm and dry, running in straight passages of varying length into the side of the hill, with smooth gray walls decorated with many excellent pictures done with charred sticks and representing the various animals of the plateau.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)