When he's good an' dead an' all without no suffoosion of blood, the Utes singes his fur off in a fire an' bakes him as he is.
"Wolfville Nights"
Alfred Lewis
Whence comes the lightning, the dazzling flame, which at times consumes the man it strikes, at others hardly singes him.
"The Eleven Comedies"
Aristophanes et al
The young bird will sit and let you pick him off with a crossbow, and even if a cartridge singes his wing he will sometimes only hop a yard or two along the boughs.
"Wild Life in a Southern County"
Richard Jefferies