Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Marked by flames or intense heat.
  • adjective Characterized by intense emotion; passionate.
  • adjective Of immediate import; urgent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act or process of consuming by fire.
  • noun In metal-working, the act or process of uniting metallic surfaces by fusing them together, or by running molten metal of the same kind between them.
  • noun In ceramics, the final firing, as for glazing, fixing the colors, or the like: used somewhat loosely.
  • noun Oxidation of iron by keeping it too long at a welding heat.
  • Scorching; hot: as, the burning sands of the Sahara.
  • Powerful; strong; vehement; ardent.
  • Causing excitement, ardor, or enthusiasm; enchaining or demanding attention.
  • Synonyms Blazing, flaming, scorching, fiery, hot.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective That burns; being on fire; excessively hot; fiery.
  • adjective Consuming; intense; inflaming; exciting; vehement; powerful.
  • adjective (Bot.) an ornamental shrub (Euonymus atropurpureus), bearing a crimson berry.
  • noun The act of consuming by fire or heat, or of subjecting to the effect of fire or heat; the state of being on fire or excessively heated.
  • noun any volatile illuminating oil, as the lighter petroleums (naphtha, benzine), or oil of turpentine (camphine), but esp. a mixture of the latter with alcohol.
  • noun a convex lens of considerable size, used for producing an intense heat by converging the sun's rays to a focus.
  • noun (Metal.) the furnace in which tin ores are calcined, to sublime the sulphur and arsenic from the pyrites.
  • noun a concave mirror, or a combination of plane mirrors, used for the same purpose as a burning glass.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of burn.
  • adjective So hot as to seem to burn (something).
  • adjective Feeling very hot.
  • adjective Feeling great passion.
  • noun A fire.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of immediate import
  • noun a process in which a substance reacts with oxygen to give heat and light
  • noun execution by electricity
  • noun a form of torture in which cigarettes or cigars or other hot implements are used to burn the victim's skin
  • noun the act of burning something
  • noun execution by fire
  • noun pain that feels hot as if it were on fire

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • (_the burning of the body_), 3015; instr.sg. by hine ne mōston ... bronde forbærnan (_could not bestow upon him the solemn burning_), 2127; hæfde landwara līge befangen, bǣle and bronde, _with glow, fire, and flame_,

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • (_the burning of the body_), 3015; instr.sg. by hine ne môston ... bronde forbärnan (_could not bestow upon him the solemn burning_), 2127; häfde landwara lîge befangen, bæle and bronde, _with glow, fire, and flame_,

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • Addie murmured, the word burning into his sweater.

    Salem Falls JODI PICOULT 2001

  • On the other hand, if you don't know the origins of the phrase "burning the candle at both ends" or why a parlour is called a parlour it's from the French parler, a place to talk then this will tell you in perfectly sprightly fashion.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2011

  • She also loses the sympathy of the audience by not only losing sight of her dream, but never seeming to really have cared about it to begin with as she never mentions writing again after the first pair of Jimmy Choos, and what they called burning a co-worker that was not really flushed out very well.

    Archive 2006-07-01 Ellen Beth Gill 2006

  • But part of the waste can be got rid of only by burning, and what we call burning is another name for combining with oxygen, or to use one word -- _oxidation_; and this is precisely the purpose of the carrying of oxygen by the little red blood cells from the lungs to the deeper parts of the body -- to burn up, or oxidize, these waste materials which would otherwise poison our cells.

    A Handbook of Health Woods Hutchinson 1896

  • If rapid circles 'motion be that which they call burning!

    Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Complete George Gilfillan 1845

  • If rapid circles 'motion be that which they call burning!

    Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Volume 2 George Gilfillan 1845

  • We've been fortunate that where we participated in the excess causality markets we are fairly above what we call the burning layers for most of our portfolio and where we do come down, we are in a much more specialized produce or position either by industry or by seat or by company we are insuring.

    unknown title 2012

  • This, carried out in a controlled scientific way, is known as the burning glass method of measuring sunshine hours, in use for 150 years.

    Weatherwatch: Measuring sunshine with a burning glass 2011

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