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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

scorchio en · ADJ

Pronunciation

Etymology

scorch (as in scorcher, scorching) + pseudo-Romance suffix -io (see for example, Italian -io, Portuguese -io, Spanish -iego, or possibly Greek -ιος (-ios)). Coined for The Fast Show, a BBC comedy series, in the "Chanel 9 News" sketch: the TV news in a fictional Mediterranean country delivered in gibberish combining Romance and Greek-sounding words supposed to be the local language. The weather map was always very hot and sunny, described as "scorchio".

Meanings

  1. (Ireland, UK, humorous, not-comparable, slang) scorching hot (originally and especially of weather)
    • The climate of the British Isles will be probably the mildest in Europe, and therefore the most desirable, but in the south temperatures, especially in cities, will be scorchio, to use the technical term 2011 July 7, Nicholas Lezard, "Turned Out Nice by Marek Kohn – review" (The Guardian: London)
    • It was a scorchio weekend and yesterday we saw the warmest day of the year so far, 29.7C recorded in Bournemouth, closer to home, 29.5C at Heathrow. 2013 July 8, Manali's weather blog (ITV: London)
    • In "scorchio" heat, I trudge along the waterfront for a last visit with the crew. 2002, Shirley Hewett, The People's Boat: HMCS Oriole : Ship of a Thousand Dreams, Heritage House, →ISBN, page 159:
    • Pork and poultry (and this goes for geese and turkeys too): aim for the hotter side of warm, but not as far as scorchio. 2011, Allegra McEvedy, Big Table, Busy Kitchen: 200 Recipes for Life, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 281:
  2. (Ireland, UK, broadly, humorous, not-comparable, slang) Sizzling, exciting, cool; sexy, racy.
    • If the Kerry footballers find themselves filling the time between league and championship next spring with a little less scorchio in their lives, they will only have themselves to blame. 2015 June 15, Malachy Clerkin, “Kerry start slowly but have plenty to spare against wasteful Tipp”, in The Irish Times, Dublin:
    • The Mambista crew are hosting hip upbeat jazzsters, Alice in Grooveland, who will be dreaming up a set of originals from their debut album ‘Skyline,’ alongside a scorchio mix of jazz, funk and Latin tunes with latex-tight grooves, catchy riffs and punchy solos. 2015 July 24, Mike Urban Weekender – What’s on around Brixton, Fri 24th – Sun 26th July (BrixtonBuzz)
    • TV is very scorchio: a parade of go-go girls in bikinis mouthing songs as they prance around the studio. 1999 November 21, Tobias Jones, “Insider's guide to... Milan”, in The Independent, London: