What does "forburn" mean?

To destroy or damage by burning.

What is a synonym for "forburn"?

Common synonyms include: burn, torch, burn away, burn down, burn to a crisp, burn up.

Forburn

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1
To destroy or damage by burning. obsolete, transitive
"[He] sent then a host thither and bade slay all the town-ship, and forburn the town."
2
To burn; to be consumed by fire. intransitive, obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms

burn torch burn away burn down burn to a crisp burn up

Example

More examples

"[He] sent then a host thither and bade slay all the town-ship, and forburn the town."

Etymology

From Middle English forburnen, forbrinnen, from Old English forbirnan (intransitive) and forbærnan (transitive), equivalent to for- + burn. Cognate with Saterland Frisian ferbaadenje, ferbaanje (“to burn up”), West Frisian ferbarne (“to burn up”), German Low German verbrannen (“to burn up”), German verbrennen (“to burn up, incinerate”).

Related phrases

burn up

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.