From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcharchar1 /tʃɑː $ tʃɑːr/ verb (charred, charring) 1 [intransitive, transitive]BURN to burn something so that its outside becomes black Roast the peppers until the skin begins to char and blister. → charred2 [intransitive]DHCWORK/DO WORK British English old-fashioned to work as a cleaner in a house, office, public building etc→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
char• Beams of brilliant light jerked across the far wall and, slowly, the bars began to char.• Marc's body was badly charred in the fire.• The fire had charred most of the inside of the house.• Car and bodies had been so badly charred that it was some time before they could be identified.• The gases seeped several inches into seams between segments of insulation, charring the material.charchar2 noun British English old-fashioned 1 [countable]BODHC a charwoman2 [uncountable]DFD tea a cup of charExamples from the Corpus
char• Naturally she switched to being a char!• Mum was a char, dad a dustman.• The residue, a carbon-based char, can be used instead of activated carbon in, for instance, sewage works.• Exit char, foaming at the mouth.• As the temperature rose, the bitumen was further cooked into a solid char containing graphite.Origin char (1600-1700) charcoal