scar´i|fy´ing|ly

scar|i|fy «SKAR uh fy», transitive verb, -fied, -fy|ing.

1. a) to make scratches or cuts in the surface of (as the skin). b) to cover with scratches: »

These…could be stamped out of plastic or Fiberglas with a scarified top (New Yorker). Fixing her nails in his antagonist's face, she scarified all one side of his nose (Tobias Smollett).

2. Figurative. to criticize severely; hurt the feelings of; wound; harrow: »

He…cut up a rising genius or scarified some unhappy wretch (Benjamin Disraeli).

3. to loosen (soil) without turning it over.

4. to slit the coats of (seeds) to hasten sprouting.

5. to make cuts in the bark of (a tree) as a treatment or to tap the sap.

╂[< Old French scarifier, learned borrowing from Late Latin scarīficāre < Latin scarifāre < Greek skarīphâsthai to scratch < skarîphos stylus]

–scar´i|fy´ing|ly, adverb.