combust

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“
There was a real danger Sid might spontaneously combust, as Taylor averaged 116 in the first leg.

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. intransitive verb To catch fire; burst into flame: The fire started when a pile of oily rags spontaneously combusted.
  2. intransitive verb To undergo combustion; burn: As the fuels were combusting they gave off noxious vapors.
  3. intransitive verb To become suddenly angry or agitated: The defendant combusted when he heard the verdict.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (38)

  • I, Derrik Ramsden, do not rattle easily, but neither have I ever seen a person self-combust. —  F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 02 - August 1999
  • There was a real danger Sid might spontaneously combust, as Taylor averaged 116 in the first leg. —  Blogposts | guardian.co.uk
  • Anyone who thinks and believes that any human being, least of all an innocent victim of the Holocaust, is worth less than a 6 millionth of a cracker, should immediately self-combust in a conflagration of embarrassment. —  Planet Atheism
  • It is thus BETTER FOR YET ANOTHER KIND OF REASON AS WELL to NOT directly "combust" it --- but, rather, to use it CLOSED-CYCLE to energize fuel cells that then drive electric motors. —  Propeller Most Popular Stories
  • (Mel Kiper Jr. 's hair might spontaneously combust.) —  The Fifth Down
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Back-formation from combustion.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English combust = Spanish Italian combusto, from Latin combustus, past participle of comburere, burn up, consume, from com- (intensive) + būrere, perhaps akin to Sanskrit √ prush, burn; otherwise explained as from comb- for com- + urere, burn, = Greek αυ῎ειν, kindle, = Sanskrit √ ush, burn: see aurora, adust, east.
  2. Formed from combustible, combustion. Cf. combust, adjective
 

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/kəmˈbəst/
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