Singe

Singe

A singe is a slight scorching, burn or treatment with flame. This may be due to an accident, such as scorching one's hair when lighting a gas fire, or a deliberate method of treatment or removal of hair or other fibres.

Hairdressing

A singe is a treatment available at a barber's. [cite book|title= Trade Training and Vocational Guidance|page=241|publisher=Preston School of Industry|year=1943|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MaZAAAAAIAAJ&q=hair+singe+barber&dq=hair+singe+barber&lr=&pgis=1] A lit taper (candle) or other device is used to lightly burn and shrivel the hair. This is supposed to have beneficial effects - sealing cut ends, closing up the follicles, preventing the hair from bleeding and encouraging it to grow. [cite book|title=Zone Reflex Plus Translation Diet: Hydro-Therapy and Swedish Massage|page=74|author=Joe S. Riley, W. E. Daglish|year=1996|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8ST9Zc8TB54C|isbn=0787311243] This practice was popular approximately a century ago; it was believed that hair had "fluid" in it and singeing would trap the fluid in. This belief has since been debunked. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=v7lXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA171&dq=%22hair+singeing%22&lr=] Singeing is still sometimes used to bond natural hair to hair extensions. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jpdqmtO2IycC&pg=PA122&dq=singeing+hair+history&lr=&sig=ACfU3U2xe-Jf-PD9-j4Z11PpreU4RIVqaQ]

Primitive cultures have also used singeing as a means to trim scalp or body hair, as a part of normal grooming or during ritual activity. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EPYAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA419&dq=singeing+hair+aborigine&lr=] [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RT8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA188&dq=singeing+hair+aborigine&lr=]

Sir Francis Drake was famously said to have "singed the King of Spain's beard" when he raided Cadiz and burnt the Spanish fleet. [citation|title=Management of the Hirsute Woman|author=Jocelyn R. Rentoul
year=1983|journal=International Journal of Dermatology|volume=22 (5)|pages=265–272]

Agriculture

In the agricultural industry, poultry and pork is singed to remove stub feathers and bristles.

Textiles

In the textile industry, loose fibres protruding on the surface of textile goods are singed to remove them. When done to fabrics containing cotton, this results in increased wettability, better dyeing characteristics, improved reflection, no "frosty" appearance, a smoother surface, better clarity in printing, improved visibility of the fabric structure, less pilling and decreased contamination through removal of fluff and lint.

The process is usually to pass one or both sides of a fabric over a gas flame to burn off the protruding fibres. Other methods include infra-red or heat for thermoplastic fibers. Singeing of yarns is called "gassing". It is usually the first step after weaving or knitting, though the fabric may be brushed first to raise the surface fibres.

Cellulose fibres such as cotton are easily singed because the protruding fibers burn to a light ash which is easily removed. Thermoplastic fibres are harder to singe because they melt and form hard residues on the fabric surface.

ee also

* Cauterization

References


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Synonyms:
, (slightly)


Look at other dictionaries:

  • singe — singe …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • singe — [ sɛ̃ʒ ] n. m. • 1170; lat. simius, var. de simia 1 ♦ Mammifère primate (simiens), caractérisé par une face nue, un cerveau développé, des membres préhensiles à cinq doigts. Principaux singes : cercopithèque, macaque, magot, rhésus; cynocéphale,… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • singe — SINGE. s. m. Animal à quatre pieds, fort souple & fort agile, & celuy de tous les animaux qui ressemble le plus à l homme. Gros singe. petit singe. singe à longue queuë. il y a plusieurs especes de singes. payer en monnoye de singe. Voy MONNOYE.… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Singe — (s[i^]nj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Singed} (s[i^]njd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Singeing} (s[i^]nj [i^]ng).] [OE. sengen, AS. sengan in besengan (akin to D. zengen, G. sengen), originally, to cause to sing, fr. AS. singan to sing, in allusion to the singing …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Singe — Singe, n. A burning of the surface; a slight burn. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • singe — O.E. sengan to burn lightly, burn the edges (of hair, wings, etc.), from P.Gmc. *sangjanan (Cf. O.Fris. of sendza, M.Du. singhen, Du. zengen, Ger. sengen to singe ). The root often is said to be related to that of sing, on the idea of some sort… …   Etymology dictionary

  • singe — m. singe fr. . voir monina, oïstití …   Diccionari Personau e Evolutiu

  • singe — index burn, deflagrate Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • singé — singé, ée (sin jé, jée) part. passé de singer. Des manières de grand seigneur singées par un malôtru …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • singe — sear, *burn, scorch, char …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • singe — [v] burn blacken, blaze, brand, brown, cauterize, char, cook, flame, ignite, incinerate, parch, scald, scorch, sear, toast, torch; concept 249 …   New thesaurus

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