singe

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• transitive verb To burn superficially; scorch.
• transitive verb To burn off the feathers or bristles of (a carcass of a bird or animal) by subjecting briefly to flame. synonym: burn.
• transitive verb To burn the ends of (hair, for example).
• transitive verb To burn the nap from (cloth) in manufacturing.
• noun A slight or surface burn; a scorch.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A burning of the surface; a scorching; hence, a heat capable of singeing.
• noun An injury or hurt caused by singeing; a superficial burn.
• To burn superficially; especially, to burn off the ends or projections of: as, to singe a fowl (to burn off the small downy or thready feathers left after plucking); to singe cloth or calico (to burn off the projecting pile or nap); to singe the hair of the head.
• To parch; make arid and dry.
• To act on with an effect similar to that of heat: said of extreme cold.
• Figuratively, to injure superficially; come near injuring seriously; harm.
• Synonyms Sear, etc. See scorch.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A burning of the surface; a slight burn.
• transitive verb To burn slightly or superficially; to burn the surface of; to burn the ends or outside of.
• transitive verb To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly over a red-hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to dyeing it.
• transitive verb To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken or the like) by passing it over a flame.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb transitive To burn slightly.
• noun A burning of the surface; a slight burn.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb burn superficially or lightly
• noun a surface burn
• verb become superficially burned