Burn Definition

bûrn
burned, burning, burns, burnt
verb
burned, burning, burns, burnt
To set on fire or subject to combustion, as in order to produce heat, light, or power.
Webster's New World
To be on fire; flame; blaze.
Webster's New World
To undergo combustion.
Webster's New World
To destroy by fire.
Webster's New World
To be injured or damaged by or as by fire or heat; become scorched, singed, etc.
Webster's New World
noun
burns
An injury or damage caused by fire, heat, radiation, wind, caustics, etc.: in medicine, burns are classified as first-degree burn, reddening, second-degree burn, blistering, and third-degree burn, destruction of the skin and the tissues under it.
Webster's New World
A burned place or area.
American Heritage Medicine
The process or result of burning, as in brick making.
Webster's New World
A single firing of a rocket or thruster on a space vehicle.
Webster's New World
A sensation of intense heat, stinging pain, or irritation.
A chili burn on the tongue; the burn of alcohol on an open wound.
American Heritage
idiom
burn itself out
  • To stop burning from lack of fuel:

    The brush fire finally burned itself out.

American Heritage
burn (one's) bridges
  • To eliminate the possibility of return or retreat.
American Heritage
burn the
  • To exhaust oneself or one's resources by leading a hectic or extravagant life.
American Heritage
burn the midnight oil
  • To work or study very late at night.
American Heritage
to burn
  • In great amounts:

    They had money to burn.

American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Burn

Noun

Singular:
burn
Plural:
Burns

Origin of Burn

  • From Middle English burn, bourne, from Old English burne, burna (“spring, fountain”), from Proto-Germanic *brunnô, *brunō (compare West Frisian boarne, Dutch bron, German Brunnen), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrew- (compare Albanian burim (“spring, fountain”) from buroj (“to pour, gush, derive”), Ancient Greek [script?] (phréār, “well, reservoir”), Old Armenian աղբիւր (ałbiwr, “fount”)). Doublet of bourn. More at brew.

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English bernen, birnen, from Old English byrnan, beornan (“to burn”), from Proto-Germanic *brinnaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu̯ (compare Middle Irish brennim (“drink up”), bruinnim (“bubble up”)), present stem from *bʰreu-, *bʰru- (compare Middle Irish bréo (“flame”), Albanian burth (“Cyclamen europaeum, mouth burning”), Sanskrit [script?] (bhuráti, “moves quickly, twitches, fidgets”)). More at brew.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English burnen from Old English beornan to be on fire, and from bærnan to set on fire gwher- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English from Old English burna bhreu- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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