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Burn

//bɜːn// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A village and civil parish in Selby district, North Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE5928). countable, uncountable
2
A river in Dartmoor, Devon, England, a tributary of the River Tavy. countable, uncountable
3
A short river in Norfolk, England, which flows into the North Sea. countable, uncountable
4
A river in North Yorkshire, England, a tributary of the River Ure. countable, uncountable
5
A surname. countable, uncountable

Noun

1
A physical injury caused by heat, cold, electricity, radiation or caustic chemicals. countable, uncountable
"She had second-degree burns from falling in the bonfire."
2
A large stream. Northern-England, Scotland
"This darksome burn, horseback brown, / His rollrock highroad roaring down, / In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam / Flutes and low to the lake falls home."
3
damage inflicted by fire wordnet
4
A sensation resembling such an injury. countable, uncountable
"chili burn from eating hot peppers"
5
a place or area that has been burned (especially on a person's body) wordnet

Show 11 more definitions

6
The act of burning something with fire. countable, uncountable
"They’re doing a controlled burn of the fields."
7
an injury caused by exposure to heat or chemicals or radiation wordnet
8
An intense non-physical sting, as left by shame or an effective insult. countable, slang, uncountable
9
pain that feels hot as if it were on fire wordnet
10
An effective insult, often in the expression sick burn (excellent or badass insult). countable, slang, uncountable
11
Physical sensation in the muscles following strenuous exercise, caused by build-up of lactic acid. countable, uncountable
"One and, two and, keep moving; feel the burn!"
12
Tobacco. UK, slang, uncountable
"TOM: I’m serious bruv. Put my burn and lighter and all that in my jeans please and give them here, then press the cell bell."
13
The writing of data to a permanent storage medium like a compact disc or a ROM chip. countable, uncountable
"Allow additional burns enables you to create a multisession CD, which can be used again to write more data."
14
The operation or result of burning or baking, as in brickmaking. countable, uncountable
"They have a good burn."
15
A disease in vegetables; brand. uncountable
16
The firing of a spacecraft's rockets in order to change its course. countable, uncountable
"On 4 March 1999, the MCO performed its second course correction manoeuvre with a burn involving its four thrusters […]"

Verb

1
To cause to be consumed by fire. transitive
"He burned his manuscript in the fireplace."
2
get a sunburn by overexposure to the sun wordnet
3
To be consumed by fire, or in flames. intransitive
"He watched the house burn."
4
damage by burning with heat, fire, or radiation wordnet
5
To overheat so as to make unusable. transitive
"He burned the toast. The blacksmith burned the steel."

Show 37 more definitions

6
burn, sear, or freeze (tissue) using a hot iron or electric current or a caustic agent wordnet
7
To become overheated to the point of being unusable. intransitive
"The grill was too hot and the steak burned."
8
undergo combustion wordnet
9
To make or produce by the application of fire or burning heat. transitive
"to burn a hole; to burn letters into a block"
10
cause to undergo combustion wordnet
11
To injure (a person or animal) with heat or chemicals that produce similar damage. transitive
"She burned the child with an iron, and was jailed for ten years."
12
destroy by fire wordnet
13
To cauterize. transitive
14
use up (energy) wordnet
15
To sunburn. ambitransitive
"She forgot to put on sunscreen and burned."
16
create by duplicating data wordnet
17
To consume, damage, or change the condition of, as if by action of fire or heat; to affect as fire or heat does. transitive
"to burn the mouth with pepper"
18
feel strong emotion, especially anger or passion wordnet
19
To be hot, e.g. due to embarrassment. intransitive
"The child’s forehead was burning with fever. Her cheeks burned with shame."
20
cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort wordnet
21
To cause to combine with oxygen or other active agent, with evolution of heat; to consume; to oxidize. transitive
"to burn iron in oxygen"
22
feel hot or painful wordnet
23
To combine energetically, with evolution of heat. dated
"Copper burns in chlorine."
24
spend (significant amounts of money) wordnet
25
To write data to a permanent storage medium like a compact disc or a ROM chip. transitive
"We’ll burn this program onto an EEPROM one hour before the demo begins."
26
execute by tying to a stake and setting alight wordnet
27
To render subtitles into a video's content while transcoding it, making the subtitles part of the image (hardsubs). broadly, transitive
"My old DVD player could play DivX files but didn't recognize the subtitle file, so I had to burn them in."
28
cause to burn or combust wordnet
29
To betray. slang, transitive
"The informant burned him."
30
shine intensely, as if with heat wordnet
31
To insult or defeat. slang, transitive
"I just burned you again."
32
To waste (time); to waste money or other resources. transitive
"We have an hour to burn."
33
In certain games, to approach near to a concealed object which is sought.
"You’re cold… warm… hot… you’re burning!"
34
To accidentally touch a moving stone. intransitive
35
In pontoon, to swap a pair of cards for another pair, or to deal a dead card. transitive
36
To make an area of an image darker (when processing photographs in a darkroom, this is accomplished by increasing the exposure of that area to light).
37
To be converted to another element in a nuclear fusion reaction, especially in a star. intransitive
38
To discard. intransitive, slang
39
To shoot someone with a firearm. slang, transitive
40
To compromise (an agent's cover story). transitive
"He had already burned his cover with Mrs. Phillips, and it was not a mistake he intended to make again."
41
To blackmail. transitive
""How does Leipzig burn him precisely?" Enderby insisted. "What's the pressure? Dirty pix—well, okay. Karla's a puritan, so's Kirov. But I mean, Christ, this isn't the fifties, is it? […]"
42
To desire or ache for (something); to focus on attaining (something). US, intransitive, slang

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English bernen (collateral form of brennen), from Old English birnan (“to burn”), metathesis from Proto-West Germanic *brinnan, from Proto-Germanic *brinnaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenw-, present stem from *bʰrewh₁-. Doublet of brew. Cognate with Cimbrian prönnan (“to burn”), Dutch barnen, branden (“to burn”), German brinnen (“to burn”), Luxembourgish brennen (“to burn”), Vilamovian brīn (“to burn”), Yiddish ברענען (brenen, “to burn”), Danish brænde (“to burn”), Faroese, Icelandic brenna (“to burn”), Norwegian Bokmål brenne (“to burn”), Norwegian Nynorsk brenna, brenne (“to burn”), Swedish brinna (“to burn”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (brinnan, “to burn”). See also Middle Irish brennim (“drink up”), bruinnim (“bubble up”); also Middle Irish bréo (“flame”), Albanian burth (“Cyclamen hederifolium, mouth burning”), Sanskrit भुरति (bhurati, “moves quickly, twitches, fidgets”). More at brew.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From Northern Middle English burn, from Old English burne, burna (“spring, fountain”), Proto-West Germanic *brunnō, from Proto-Germanic *brunnô, *brunō. Cognate with Scots burn (“stream”), Cimbrian, Mòcheno prunn (“well, spring”), Dutch bron (“well”), German Bronnen, Brun, Brunnen (“well”), Luxembourgish Buer, Bur (“well”), Yiddish ברונעם (brunem, “well”), Danish brønd (“well”), Faroese brunnur, bruður (“well”), Icelandic brunnur (“well”), Norwegian Bokmål, Scanian brønn (“well”), Norwegian Nynorsk brunn, brønn (“well”), Swedish brunn (“well”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰 (brunna, “source, wellspring”), Crimean Gothic brunna (“spring, fountain, source”). Also Albanian burim (“spring, fountain”), Ancient Greek φρέαρ (phréar, “well, reservoir”), Old Armenian աղբիւր (ałbiwr, “fount”). Doublet of bourn. More at brew.

Etymology 4

* The surname is of English origin, variant of Bourne. * The placename in Yorkshire is likely related to the suffix -burn, found in placenames such as Woodburn, Glusburn, etc., from burn (“stream”).

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