Escorcher

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To burn or singe the surface of something with intense heat ; to attack someone's reputation or character with severe criticism
2. To char or parch something by applying extreme temperature ; to censure or denounce someone bitterly and publicly
3. To scorch or blacken by fire or heat ; to assail with cutting or vehement reproach

Etymology: Its core meaning is literal and bodily: to strip the skin off an animal. The verb comes from Old French, where "es-" (from Latin "ex-", meaning "out" or "off") was joined to "corcher", a word for stripping bark from a tree. That, in turn, goes back to Late Latin "corticare", "to bark", from Latin "cortex", "bark" or "rind". So the same idea, peeling an outer layer away, applies to both trees and animals. French later kept the verb in its modern spelling, "écorcher", and the past participle gave art and anatomy the noun "écorché". An écorché is a figure drawn or sculpted with its skin removed so that the muscles are visible, a teaching tool used by artists and medical students for centuries. The archaic spelling survives mainly in older texts and in dictionaries that record earlier forms.