Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BURN, n.

1. A hurt or injury of the flesh caused by the action of fire.
2. The operation of burning or baking, as in brickmaking; as, they have a good burn.

BURN, v.i.

1. To be on fire; to flame; as, the mount burned with fire. – Exodus.
2. To shine; to sparkle. O prince! O wherefore burn your eyes? – Rowe.
3. To be inflamed with passion or desire; as, to burn with anger or love. – Thomson.
4. To act with destructive violence, as fire. Shall thy wrath burn like fire? – Ps. lxxxix.
5. To be in commotion; to rage with destructive violence. The groan still deepens and the combat burns. – Pope.
6. To be heated; to be in a glow; as, the face burns.
7. To be affected with a sensation of heat, pain, or acidity; as, the heart burns.
8. To feel excess of heat; as, the flesh burns by a fire; a patient burns with a fever. To burn out, to burn till the fuel is exhausted and the fire ceases.

BURN, v.t. [pret. and pp. burned or burnt. Sax. bernan, bærnan, or byrnan, to burn; bryne, a burning fire, ardor; Sw. brinna, bränna; G. brennen; D. branden; Dan. brænder, from brand; L. pruna, and perhaps, furnus, fornax, a furnace. The primary sense is, to rage, to act with violent excitement.]

1. To consume with fire; to reduce to ashes by the action of heat or fire; frequently with up; as, to burn up wood.
2. To expel the volatile parts and reduce to charcoal by fire; as, to burn wood into coal. Hence, in popular language, to burn a kiln of wood, is to char the wood.
3. To cleanse of soot by burning; to inflame; as, to burn a chimney; an extensive use of the word.
4. To harden in the fire; to bake or harden by heat; as, to burn bricks or a brickkiln.
5. To scorch; to affect by heat; as, to burn the clothes or the legs by the fire; to burn meat or bread in cookery.
6. To injure by fire; to affect the flesh by heat.
7. To dry up or dissipate; with up; as, to burn up tares. – Dryden.
8. To dry excessively; to cause to wither by heat; as, the sun burns the grass or plants.
9. To heat or inflame; to affect with excessive stimulus; as, ardent spirits burn the stomach.
10. To affect with heat in cookery, so as to give the food disagreeable taste. Hence the phrase, burnt to.
11. To calcine with heat or fire; to expel the volatile matter from substances, so that they are easily pulverized; as, to burn oyster shells, or lime-stone.
12. To affect with excess of heat; as, the fever burns a patient.
13. To subject to the action of fire; to heat or dry; as, to burn colors. – Encyc. To burn up, to consume entirely by fire. To burn out, to burn till the fuel is all consumed.

BURN'A-BLE, a.

That may be burnt. [Little used.]

BURN'ED, or BURNT, pp.

Consumed with fire, scorched or dried with fire or heat; baked or hardened in the fire.

BURN'ER, n.

A person who burns or sets fire to any thing.

BURN'ET, n.

A plant, Poterium or garden burnet.

BURN'ET-SAX-I-FRAGE, n.

A plant, Pimpinella.

BURN'ING, a.

1. Powerful; vehement; as, a burning shame; a burning scent. – Shak.
2. Much heated; very hot; scorching. The burning plains of India. – S. S. Smith.

BURN'ING, n.

Combustion; the act of expelling volatile matter and reducing to ashes, or to a calx; a fire; inflammation; the heat or raging of passion. In surgery, actual cautery; cauterization.

BURN'ING, ppr.

Consuming with fire; flaming; scorching; hardening by fire; calcining; charring; raging as fire; glowing.

BURN'ING-GLASS, n. [burn and glass.]

A convex glass which, when exposed to the direct rays of the sun, collects them into a small space, called a focus, producing an intense heat. The name is given also to a concave mirror which condenses the sun's rays. – Encyc.

BURN'ING-THORN'Y-PLANT, n.

A species of Euphorbia or spurge. – Fam. of Plants.

BURN'ISH, n.

Gloss; brightness; luster. – Christ. Observ.

BURN'ISH, v.i.

To grow bright or glossy. – Swift.

BURN'ISH, v.t. [Fr. brunir; D. bruineeren; It. brunire; Sp. brunir. This word undoubtedly is of secondary formation, from the color of flame. See Burn.]

To polish by friction; to make smooth, bright and glossy; as, to burnish steel. – Dryden.

BURN'ISH-ED, pp.

Polished; made glossy.

BURN'ISH-ER, n.

1. The person who polishes, or makes glossy.
2. An instrument used in polishing, of different kinds. It may be a piece of round polished steel, a dog's or wolf's tooth, a piece of copper, agate or pebble, &c. It is used for giving a gloss or smoothness to metals, to the edges of books, &c.

BURN'ISH-ING, ppr.

Polishing; making smooth and glossy.

BURN'OOSE, or BURN'OS, n. [Sp. albornoz; Port. albernoz; Pers. بروان; Syr. ܒܝܪܘܢܐ biruna.]

An upper cloke or garment. – Parkhurst.

BURNT, pp.

of Burn. Consumed; scorched; heated; subjected to the action of fire.

BURNT'-OF-FER-ING, n. [burnt and offer.]

Something offered and burnt on an altar, as an atonement for sin; a sacrifice; called also burnt-sacrifice. The offerings of the Jews were a clean animal, as an ox, a calf, a goat, or sheep; or some species of vegetable substance, as bread and ears of wheat or barley. – Brown.

BURR, n.

1. The lobe or lap of the ear. – Dict.
2. The round knob of a horn next a deer's head. – Encyc.
3. The sweetbread.

BUR'RAS-PIPE, n.

An instrument or vessel used to keep corroding powders in. – Johnson.

BUR'-REED, n.

A plant, the Sparganium. – Muhlenberg.