burn
pronunciation
How to pronounce burn in British English:
UK [bɜːn]
How to pronounce burn in American English:
US [bɜːrn]
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- Noun:
- pain that feels hot as if it were on fire
- a browning of the skin resulting from exposure to the rays of the sun
- an injury cause by exposure to heat or chemicals or radiation
- a burned place or area
- damage inflicted by burning
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- Verb:
- destroy by fire
- shine intensely, as if with heat
- undergo combustion
- cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort
- cause to burn or combust
- feel strong emotion, especially anger or passion
- cause to undergo combustion
- burn at the stake
- spend (significant amounts of money)
- feel hot or painful
- burn, sear, or freeze (tissue) using a hot iron or electric current or a caustic agent
- get a sunburn by overexposure to the sun
- create by duplicating data
- use up (energy)
- burn with heat, fire, or radiation
Word Origin
- burn
- burn: [OE] English has two separate words burn. The commoner, relating to ‘fire’, is actually a conflation of two Old English verbs: birnan, which was intransitive, and bærnan, which was transitive. Both come ultimately from the Germanic base *bren-, *bran-, which also produced brand and possibly broil, and was the source of German brennen and Swedish brinna ‘burn’ (another variant of the base, *brun-, lies behind the brim- of brimstone).It has been conjectured that Latin fervēre ‘boil’ (source of English fervent and ferment) may be connected. Burn ‘stream’ comes from Old English burn(e), burna, which was a descendant of a Germanic base *brun-, source also of German brunne ‘stream’. This too has been linked with Latin fervēre (from the notion of fast-running water ‘boiling’ over rocks).=> brand, brimstone, broil, ferment, fervent
- burn (v.)
- 12c., combination of Old Norse brenna "to burn, light," and two originally distinct Old English verbs: bærnan "to kindle" (transitive) and beornan "to be on fire" (intransitive), all from Proto-Germanic *brennan/*brannjan (cognates: Middle Dutch bernen, Dutch branden, Old High German brinnan, German brennen, Gothic -brannjan "to set on fire"). This perhaps is from PIE *gwher- "to heat, warm" (see warm (adj.)), or from PIE *bhre-n-u, from root *bhreue- "to boil forth, well up" (see brew (v.)). Related: Burned/burnt (see -ed); burning. Figuratively (of passions, battle, etc.) in Old English. Meaning "cheat, swindle, victimize" is first attested 1650s. In late 18c, slang, burned meant "infected with venereal disease." To burn one's bridges (behind one) "behave so as to destroy any chance of returning to a status quo" (attested by 1892 in Mark Twain), perhaps ultimately is from reckless cavalry raids in the American Civil War. Slavic languages have historically used different and unrelated words for the transitive and intransitive senses of "set fire to"/"be on fire:" for example Polish palić/gorzeć, Russian žeč'/gorel.
- burn (n.)
- c. 1300, "act of burning," from Old English bryne, from the same source as burn (v.). Until mid-16c. the usual spelling was brenne. Meaning "mark made by burning" is from 1520s. Slow burn first attested 1938, in reference to U.S. movie actor Edgar Kennedy (1890-1948), who made it his specialty.
Example
- 1. Some men just like to watch the world burn .
- 2. Industrious sorts no longer burn the midnight oil .
- 3. Additional exercise will cause you to burn more calories .
- 4. Life forgives you if you burn your finger .
- 5. Rahn says she was also upset by the plans of a small church in florida to burn the quran on september 11 .