Both Uses of
scathing
in
A Prayer for Owen Meany
- On those rare occasions when we watched television without my grandmother, we were disappointed; without Grandmother's running, scathing commentary, there were few programs that could sustain our interest.†
p. 264.9 *scathing = severely harming
- And to the students of Gravesend who thus chafed against their bonds, the only accepted tone was caustic—was biting, mordant, bitter, scathing sarcasm, the juicy vocabulary of which Owen Meany had already learned from my grandmother.†
p. 293.2
Definition:
to severely harm -- especially by fire or through criticism