Drought vs Parch - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between drought and parch

is that drought is a period of below average rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell while parch is the condition of being parched.

As a verb parch is

to burn the surface of, to scorch.

drought

English

Alternative forms

* drouth

Noun

(en noun)

A period of below average rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01

, author=Donald Worster , title=A Drier and Hotter Future , volume=100, issue=1, page=70 , magazine= citation , passage=Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought , and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.}}

(by extension, informal) A longer than expected term without success, particularly in sport.

parch

English

Verb

To burn the surface of, to scorch.

The sun today could parch cement.

To roast, as dry grain.

* Bible, Leviticus xxiii. 14

Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn.

To dry to extremity; to shrivel with heat.

The patient's mouth is parched from fever.

(colloquial) To make thirsty.

We're parched , hon. Could you send up an ale from the cooler?

(archaic) To boil something slowly (Still used in Lancashire in , a type of mushy peas ).

To become superficially burnt; be become sunburned.

The locals watched, amused, as the tourists parched in the sun, having neglected to apply sunscreen or bring water.

Noun

(parches)

The condition of being parched.

* 1982 , (TC Boyle), Water Music , Penguin 2006, p. 64:

Yet here he is, not at the head, but somewhere toward the rear of the serpentine queue wending its way through all this parch […].

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