Burn v. t. (past & past part. burned or burnt; pres. part. burning)
1.
To consume with fire; to reduce to ashes by the action of heat or fire; frequently intensified by up: as, to burn up wood. "We'll burn his body in the holy place."
2.
To injure by fire or heat; to change destructively some property or properties of, by undue exposure to fire or heat; to scorch; to scald; to blister; to singe; to char; to sear; as, to burn steel in forging; to burn one's face in the sun; the sun burns the grass.
3.
To perfect or improve by fire or heat; to submit to the action of fire or heat for some economic purpose; to destroy or change some property or properties of, by exposure to fire or heat in due degree for obtaining a desired residuum, product, or effect; to bake; as, to burn clay in making bricks or pottery; to burn wood so as to produce charcoal; to burn limestone for the lime.
4.
To make or produce, as an effect or result, by the application of fire or heat; as, to burn a hole; to burn charcoal; to burn letters into a block.
5.
To consume, injure, or change the condition of, as if by action of fire or heat; to affect as fire or heat does; as, to burn the mouth with pepper. "This tyrant fever burns me up.""This dry sorrow burns up all my tears."
6.
(Surg.) To apply a cautery to; to cauterize.
7.
(Chem.) To cause to combine with oxygen or other active agent, with evolution of heat; to consume; to oxidize; as, a man burns a certain amount of carbon at each respiration; to burn iron in oxygen.
To burn, To burn together, as two surfaces of metal (Engin.), to fuse and unite them by pouring over them a quantity of the same metal in a liquid state.
To burn a bowl (Game of Bowls), to displace it accidentally, the bowl so displaced being said to be burned.
To burn daylight, to light candles before it is dark; to waste time; to perform superfluous actions.
To burn one's fingers, to get one's self into unexpected trouble, as by interfering the concerns of others, speculation, etc.
To burn out,
(a)
to destroy or obliterate by burning. "Must you with hot irons burn out mine eyes?"
(b)
to force (people) to flee by burning their homes or places of business; as, the rioters burned out the Chinese businessmen.
To be burned out, to suffer loss by fire, as the burning of one's house, store, or shop, with the contents.
To burn up, To burn down, to burn entirely.
Burn v. i. (past & past part. burned or burnt; pres. part. burning)
1.
To be of fire; to flame. "The mount burned with fire."
2.
To suffer from, or be scorched by, an excess of heat. "Your meat doth burn, quoth I."
3.
To have a condition, quality, appearance, sensation, or emotion, as if on fire or excessively heated; to act or rage with destructive violence; to be in a state of lively emotion or strong desire; as, the face burns; to burn with fever. "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?""The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, Burned on the water.""Burning with high hope.""The groan still deepens, and the combat burns.""The parching air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire."
4.
(Chem.) To combine energetically, with evolution of heat; as, copper burns in chlorine.
5.
In certain games, to approach near to a concealed object which is sought. (Colloq.)
To burn up, To burn down, to be entirely consumed.
... want anything, however small, it seems to me," exclaimed Genestas. "There is even a boot-jack. Only an old trooper knows what a boot-jack is worth! There are times, when one is out on a campaign, sir, when one is ready to burn down a house to come by a knave of a boot-jack. After a few marches, one on the top of another, or above all, after an engagement, there are times when a swollen foot and the soaked leather will not part company, pull as you will; I have had to lie down in my boots more than once. One can put ... — The Country Doctor • Honore de Balzac Read full book for free!
... always in a dream. Now, obviously there can be no positive proof given to him that he is not in a dream, for the simple reason that no proof can be offered that might not be offered in a dream. But if the man began to burn down London and say that his housekeeper would soon call him to breakfast, we should take him and put him with other logicians in a place which has often been alluded to in the course of this chapter. The man who cannot believe his senses, and the man who cannot believe anything else, are both ... — Orthodoxy • G. K. Chesterton Read full book for free!
... to bed, when the servants ran out of the cook-house, which was a stone's-throw from the cottage, crying out, "Fire!" and in a few minutes we saw it wrapped in flames. Of course a house built of sticks and leaves does not take long to burn down to the ground, but we were distressed to hear the bleatings of the little kid which could not be got out in time. The ducks, too, were still in the long basket coop in which they were carried up, and were literally roasted ... — Sketches of Our Life at Sarawak • Harriette McDougall Read full book for free!
... her brogue an' headed for an inhabited community, an' then the Chink concluded that all he saw was his'n. She finally took a brace a' told him to hit the trail, an' he had gone off, vowin' to come back an' burn down the whole place. This was her first year there, an' the closest neighbor was seven miles across ... — Happy Hawkins • Robert Alexander Wason Read full book for free!
... wisdom in the grave, and it is nothing to them now that I remember them so kindly. Some of them went to the making of boxes, I suppose, some to the kindling of kitchen fires. In like noble spirit did the illustrious Bobo, for the love of roast pig, burn down his ... — The Foot-path Way • Bradford Torrey Read full book for free!
...
Read full book for free!
