Definition of "eschar" [es•char]

• A dry scab or slough formed on the skin as a result of a burn or by the action of a corrosive or caustic substance. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Phosphorus burns on the skin are deep and painful; a firm eschar is produced and is surrounded by vesiculation."
• "On Aug. 25, a nursing home employee noted in a "skin condition report" that the toe was scabrous, swollen, contained pus and had developed black "eschar" -- dead tissue that's a sign of gangrene."
• "The caustic must not, therefore, be applied in these cases, until the inflammation has entirely subsided; but when there remains only a small superficial ulceration, the caustic may be passed lightly over the ulcerated surface to form an eschar which is to be defended by the gold-beater's skin; for the affection is then reduced to the state of a common superficial ulcer."