Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a laundress.

1849

Sam Sly 24 Mar. 1/3: The company, at least the female portion of it, consisted of laundresses, or, as they are vulgarly termed ‘scorchers’.

2. a severe reprimand, a telling-off; thus an unpleasant situation.

1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 11 June n.p.: This was a scorcher for Ann, and with a tremendous puff she burst forth [etc].
1884		H. Smart Post to Finish III 276: ‘Rather warm for the fraternity’ remarked Farrington [...] ‘Yes, Captain, it’s a scorcher, that’s what it is.’.
1912		S. Ford Trying Out Torchy 24: Old Hickory turns and glares after him savage, and then rips out a few atmosphere scorchers that almost blisters the varnish.
1994		J. O’Connor Secret World of the Irish Male (1995) 98: Mr Murphy wrote me a scorcher from Cork to call me, flatteringly enough, ‘the devil incarnate’.

3. a very hot day.

1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 36: It was a very fine hot day – a regular ‘scorcher!’.
1887		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Oct. 14/2: One evening, in March, after a regular ‘scorcher,’ when the great crimson sun was sinking through the trees, [...] a tattered, bent, and dusty wayfarer [...] dragged his gaunt person up to the storeroom.
1895		J. London ‘’Frisco Kid’s Story’ in High School Aegis X 15 Feb. 2–3: One hot day – an’ it was a scorcher.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 303: She’s [i.e. a day] a scorcher.
1913		E. Ferber ‘The Woman Who Tried to Be Good’ in One Basket (1947) 6: My, ain’t this a scorcher!
1927		D. Parker ‘Little Curtis’ in Parker (1943) 103: Phew, this is a scorcher!
1932		M. Marshall Travels of Tramp-Royal 208: The day was a scorcher.
1947		F. Brown Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 6: It was a gosh-awful hot day, for seven in the morning [...] Going to be another scorcher, I thought.
1954		J. Thompson Swell-Looking Babe 30: Going to be a scorcher today.
1964		F. Sargeson ‘A Man of Good Will’ in Coll. Stories (1965) 137: Every day was a real scorcher.
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 50: She’s going to be a scorcher today all right. Keeo out of the sun as much as possible.
1975		D. Nobbs Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976) 16: It’s going to be another scorcher.
1988		T. Jones Curse of the Vampire Socks 107: The day was a scorcher.
1999		Guardian Guide 14–20 Aug. 40: On the kind of scorchers we’ve been getting recently, what is there to do but take off to where the air is cooler.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 93: It was a scorcher out there today.
2009		P. Temple Truth 223: … day of total fire ban for the state, another scorcher and no sign of a change.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 31: It was a scorcher today.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 79: A cloudless day meant another scorcher.

4. anything or anyone exceptional of its type.

1879		Sporting Times 1 Mar. 3/2: Look out for many more ‘scorchers’ [...] from Yours, &c., Nathaniel Gubbins.
1883		Dly Gaz. for Middlesborough 21 July 5/5: Finally she puts in a scorcher [...] she palms off on the shopman [...] a spurious article of jewellery [...] and clears as much, perhaps, as a couple or three pounds.
1887		H. Frederic Seth’s Brother’s Wife 107: You just everlastingly gave it to that snide show to-night. Wasn’t it a scorcher, though?
1888		R. Barnett Police Sergeant C 21 99: He’s a scorcher for all that.
1890		Sporting Times 11 Jan. 5: Mr. Defries, who, it is said, will be the next challenger, is a ‘fair scorcher’.
1900		implied in sense 6.
1907		Nelson Eve. Mail (NZ) 25 Apr. 2/2: [advt.] A Feal Scorcher. Another shipment of Boys’ Wash Strong Red Winter Jerseys Arrived Today.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. 14/1: But the old man Time’s been busy; he is straddled on my back, / And from being once a scorcher I am nothing but a hack; / When the team is on the racket from the pub I have to slink, / For my thirst goes out of action when it’s time to drink the drink.
1910		Sporting Times 8 Jan. 4/1: It was possible [...] to avoid two extra fences—by jumping one very stiff one. But that was a scorcher, and no error!
1923–4		F. Anthony ‘Gus Buys a Bull’ in Me And Gus (1977) 43: The way he went off about it was a fair scorcher.
1937		J. Tully Bruiser 283: It was a scorcher – I lived nine years in that three minutes.
1940		‘Flann O’Brien’ Third Policeman (1974) 78: A loose plate is a scorcher, nobody lives very long after swallowing one.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 360: A real scorcher [...] We talked about it in class.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 187: I catch him with a scorcher, probably the best punch I’ve thrown.

5. a major problem.

1894

J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) II 79: Well, that was a scorcher!

6. an outspoken or domineering person.

1881		‘’Arry on Woman Rights’ in Punch 2 Apr. 156/2: They’re regular scorchers, these women, when fair on the job, don’t yer know.
1891		G.R. Sims ‘Pickpocket Poems’ Dagonet Ditties 93: Well, you tackled a scorcher; / That elderly gent was Jem Mace.
1900		Sporting Times 20 Jan. 2/1: If that high-toned scorcher [i.e. Emperor Nero] had only been spared a couple of thousand years or so.
1910		H.G. Wells Hist. of Mr Polly (1946) 191: He’ll show you. He’s a scorcher, is Uncle Jim.

7. an attractive and/or sexually voracious woman.

1885		‘’Arry on the Elections’ in Punch 12 Dec. 277/2: Wy a Primrose League Dame — a fair scorcher — as pinned a rosette on my collar.
1898		J.D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 31: She wos a fair scorcher, jist abart as ’ot as they make ’em.
1901		More Forbidden Fruit 75: Patty was a scorcher [...] her warm kisses [...] effected immediately a rise.
1901		Truth (Brisbane) 12 May 7/3: In the house there were a slavey / Plump and fresh, not second-hand. / Like her missus, who’s a scorcher.
1905		H.G. Wells Kipps (1952) 230: He [...] brought his eyes round to the ladies in evening dress on his right [...] they were scorchers.
1911		Truth (Perth) 18 Feb. 8/6: My word, but she were a scorcher, / Got up fit to do a kill.
c.1914		Ellis & Macey [perf. George Robey] ‘Arabella Binks’ 🎵 Oh Arabella, Arabella Binks / Isn’t she a scorcher, isn’t she a minx?
1935		Wodehouse Luck of Bodkins 88: When I’d had a look at the young lady next door and seen what a scorcher she is.

8. one who cycles or motors with above average speed or energy; cit. 1900 puns on both senses 5 and 7.

1889		Worcester Jrnl 27 Apr. 5/1: The scorcher is he who tries to make the pace hot for any wheelman who may be in his company.
1892		Coventry Eve. Teleg. 5 Oct. 3/1: ‘corching’ in London [...] unrestrained, in many cases intemperate, riding of metropolitan cyclists must sooner or later bring them within legal restraint.
1894		Star (Guernsey) 7 June 2/6: Scorching by Bicyclists. The tendency of bicyclists to indulge in ‘scorching’ practices [...] has attracted Parliamentary notice.
1895		‘’Arry and the [...] Lady Cyclists’ in Punch 15 June 285/1: There isn’t a scorchinger Scorcher than ’Arry, when fair on the spin.
1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 105: ‘He’s wan o’ dem scorchers, an’ he’s goin’ t’irty mile an hour, wid his back bent up like a scared cat an’ his chin on de handle bar’.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 87: ‘Does Mame ride?’ ‘Does she? She’s a scorchalorum.’.
1898		Sth Australian Register (Adelaide) 24 Mar. 6/6: ‘Why do they call a fast bicycle rider a scorcher, papa?’ ‘Because he goes a hot pace’.
1900		Sporting Times 20 Jan. 7: [advert, featuring picture of a woman riding a bicycle very fast and a packet of cigarettes] Two Fair Scorchers.
1901		Tamworth Herald 13 Apr. 3/1: Killed by a Scorcher. An unknown cyclist [...] ran down a painter.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Mar. 1/1: Power should be given to the police to squelch the cyclist scorchers in and around Perth.
1911		Derby Dly Teleg. 27 Nov. 4/5: Clerical Scorcher [...] Rev. Horace H. Wilford [...] was fined 10s. [...] for riding a motorcycle at a dangerous speed.
1925		Cairns Post (Qld) 29 Dec. 4/4: [headline] Motor Scorchers.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl.
1930		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. (Devon) 17 June 2/1: Sidmouth Scorcher: Man who drove 60 m.p.h. at cross roads.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 86: She would never know anybody except the Surry Hills boys, the good-hearted morons of the dance-halls, the scorchers on motorbikes, the dills who frequented the corners.

9. that which is hit or thrown, e.g. a ball, with above-average speed.

1912		Kirkintillock Gaz. 26 Apr. 4/2: Stevenson got home a scorcher [...] and made the total five [goals].
1918		T. Thursday ‘Words & Music’ in Top-Notch 15 June 🌐 Speeder hit a scorcher that knocked Hookus on his ear—.

10. anything sensational, esp. when seen as risqué or ‘naughty’.

1888		F. Du Boisgobey (trans. H.L. Williams) Cat’s-Eye Ring I 81: ‘Gentlemen,’ suddenly said a tall gallant, [...] ‘I am going to tell you a ‘scorcher’— ‘Hotter than the story of the little Baronne?’ laughingly inquired a stockbroker, whose social ‘line’ it was to relate the escapades of ladies of the peerage.
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1974		P. Cave Dirtiest Picture Postcard 12: Then he produced a scorcher which managed to get itself banned by the country’s leading booksellers [OED].
2000		Observer Screen 5 Mar. 7: Phew, what a scorcher.