scorcher

plural scorchers

1. literallyOne who, or that which, scorches.

   Synonyms: sizzler

2. colloquialA very hot day.

   Tomorrow will be a scorcher, so carry water and use sunscreen if you're going out.

   2 more examples

   Meteorologists are prepping their “new record high temperature” press releases, tabloid editors are readying their ‘“phwoar, what a scorcher” headlines (while happily ignoring the climate emergency doing the scorching) and everyone else is preparing to hunker down somewhere cool until it’s all over.

   2022 July 15, Gwilym Mumford, “The Guide #43: Pop culture picks to help you through a heatwave”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   A weeklong scorcher is expected to bake much of Central and Southern California from today to Labor Day. Temperatures could reach up to 115 degrees in the Inland Empire and 112 degrees in the San Fernando Valley and San Joaquin Valley, while hovering just below triple digits closer to the coast.

   2022 August 30, Soumya Karlamangla, “Brutal Heat Wave Expected in California This Week”, in New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: sizzler, stinker

3. ball gamesA very good goal, notably made with a very hard shot.

   What a scorcher! See the net reverberate!

   1 more example

   Marcos Alonso scorcher secures Chelsea nervy victory over Southampton [title]

   2017 December 16, Paul MacInnes, “Marcos Alonso scorcher secures Chelsea nervy victory over Southampton”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

4. colloquialA caustic rebuke or criticism.
5. colloquialdatedA bad person.

   `Yes, sir - of course, sir, that's just what he said they was - 'cautions, downright scorchers' - sir, and I'm sure I don't doubt it, seeing what I know of them, and their hot-potting ways,' went on Job sadly.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

6. colloquialdatedOne who rides a bicycle furiously on a public highway.

   “You're arrested for fast riding.” When the scorcher heard the shout He looked o'er his shoulder, And he didn't do a thing But pedal all the harder And make the welkin ring.

   1897, “The copper and the scorcher”, in Edmond Redmond, editor, Lyra Cyclus […] , Rochester, NY, page 63