burn out


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Idioms, Encyclopedia.

burn 1

 (bûrn)
v. burned or burnt (bûrnt), burn·ing, burns
v.intr.
1. To undergo combustion or be consumed as fuel: The dry wood burned quickly.
2. To be damaged, injured, or destroyed by fire, heat, radiation, electricity, or a caustic agent: a house that burned to the ground; eggs that burned and stuck to the pan.
3. To consume fuel: a rocket stage designed to burn for three minutes before being jettisoned.
4.
a. To emit heat or light by fire or energy: campfires burning in the dark; lights burning in the windows.
b. To become dissipated or be dispelled: The fog burned off as the sun came up. Their anger burned away in time.
5.
a. To suffer death or punishment by fire: souls burning in hell.
b. To be electrocuted.
6.
a. To be very hot; bake: a desert burning under the midday sun.
b. To feel or look hot: a child burning with fever.
c. To impart a sensation of heat: a liniment that burns when first applied.
7.
a. To penetrate something by intense heat, energy, or caustic effect: The acid burned into the table.
b. To cause a strong impression, especially by emotional intensity: a look that burned into them; shame burning into my heart.
8.
a. To become irritated or painful, as by chafing or inflammation: eyes burning from the smoke.
b. To become sunburned or windburned.
9. To be consumed with strong emotion, especially:
a. To be or become angry: an insult that really made me burn.
b. To be very eager: was burning with ambition.
v.tr.
1.
a. To cause to undergo combustion, especially to the point of destruction: We burned the scrap wood in the fireplace.
b. To consume (fuel or energy, for example): burned all the wood that winter.
2.
a. To use as a fuel: a furnace that burns coal.
b. To metabolize (glucose, for example) in the body.
3. To damage or injure by fire, heat, radiation, electricity, or a caustic agent: burned the toast; burned my skin with the acid.
4.
a. To make or produce by fire or heat: burn a hole in the rug.
b. To dispel or dissipate, as by heat: The sun burned off the fog. Resentments that burned away their tender feelings.
5.
a. To execute or kill with fire: burning heretics at the stake.
b. To execute by electrocution.
6.
a. To irritate or inflame, as by chafing or sunburn.
b. To impart a sensation of intense heat to: The chili burned my mouth.
c. To make angry: What really burns me is his arrogance.
7. To brand (an animal).
8.
a. To engrave or make indelible by burning: burned his initials into the wood.
b. To cause to be felt or remembered because of emotional intensity: The image of the accident was burned into my memory.
9. To harden or impart a finish to by subjecting to intense heat; fire: burn clay pots in a kiln.
10.
a. To defeat in a contest, especially by a narrow margin.
b. Sports To outplay or score on (an opponent), especially through quick or deceptive movement.
c. To inflict harm or hardship on; hurt: "Huge loan losses have burned banks in recent years" (Christian Science Monitor).
d. To swindle or deceive; cheat: We really got burned on the used car we bought.
11.
a. To write data onto (an optical disc).
b. To write (data) onto an optical disc.
n.
1. An injury produced by fire, heat, radiation, electricity, or a caustic agent.
2. A burned place or area: a cigarette burn in the tablecloth.
3. An act, process, or result of burning: The fire settled down to a steady burn.
4. A sensation of intense heat, stinging pain, or irritation: a chili burn on the tongue; the burn of alcohol on an open wound.
5. A sunburn or windburn.
Phrasal Verbs:
burn out
1. To stop burning from lack of fuel: The campfire eventually burned out.
2. To wear out or make or become inoperative as a result of heat or friction: The short circuit burned out the fuse. The computer's motherboard burned out.
3. To make or become exhausted, especially as a result of long-term stress: "Hours are long, stress is high, and many recruits drop out or burn out" (Robert J. Samuelson).
4. To cause (someone) to have to evacuate an area or building because of fire: The shopkeeper was burned out by arsonists.
burn up
1. To make angry: Their rudeness really burns me up.
2. To travel over or through at high speed: drag racers burning up the track.
Idioms:
burn itself out
To stop burning from lack of fuel: The brush fire finally burned itself out.
burn (one's) bridges
To eliminate the possibility of return or retreat.
burn the/one's candle at both ends
To exhaust oneself or one's resources by leading a hectic or extravagant life.
burn the midnight oil
To work or study very late at night.
to burn
In great amounts: They had money to burn.

[Middle English burnen, from Old English beornan, to be on fire, and from bærnan, to set on fire; see gwher- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: burn1, scorch, singe, sear1, char1
These verbs mean to injure or alter by means of intense heat or flames. Burn, the most general, applies to the effects of exposure to a source of heat or to something that can produce a similar effect: burned the muffins in the oven; skin burned by the wind and sun. Scorch involves superficial burning that discolors or damages the texture of something: scorched the shirt with the iron. Singe specifies superficial burning and especially the removal of hair or feathers from a carcass before cooking: singed his finger lighting the match; plucked and singed the chicken before roasting it. Sear applies to rapid superficial burning using high heat: seared the meat in a hot skillet. To char is to reduce a substance to carbon or charcoal by partial burning: trees charred by the forest fire.

burn 2

 (bûrn)
n. Scots
A small stream; a brook.

[Middle English, from Old English burna; see bhreu- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

burn out

vb (adverb)
1. (Mechanical Engineering) to become or cause to become worn out or inoperative as a result of heat or friction: the clutch burnt out.
2. (Mechanical Engineering) (intr) (of a rocket, jet engine, etc) to cease functioning as a result of exhaustion of the fuel supply
3. (tr; usually passive) to destroy by fire
4. to become or cause to become exhausted through overwork or dissipation
n
5. (Mechanical Engineering) the failure of a mechanical device from excessive heating
6. (Pathology) a total loss of energy and interest and an inability to function effectively, experienced as a result of excessive demands upon one's resources or chronic overwork
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.burn out - melt, break, or become otherwise unusable; "The lightbulbs blew out"; "The fuse blew"
conk out, go bad, break down, die, fail, give out, give way, break, go - stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

burn

verb
1. To undergo combustion:
2. To undergo or cause to undergo damage by or as if by fire:
3. To emit a bright light:
4. To feel or look hot:
5. To feel or cause to feel a sensation of heat or discomfort:
6. To cause to become sore or inflamed:
7. To cause to feel or show anger.Also used with up:
Idioms: make one hot under the collar, make one's blood boil, put one's back up.
8. To be or become angry:
Informal: steam.
Idioms: blow a fuse, blow a gasket, blow one's stack, breathe fire, fly off the handle, get hot under the collar, hit the ceiling, lose one's temper, see red.
9. To be in a state of emotional or mental turmoil:
phrasal verb
burn out
To lose so much strength and power as to become ineffective or motionless:
Slang: poop out.
noun
Damage or a damaged substance that results from burning:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

w>burn out

vi (fire, candle)ausbrennen, ausgehen; (fuse, dynamo etc)durchbrennen; (rocket)den Treibstoff verbraucht haben
vr
(candle, lamp)herunterbrennen; (fire)ab- or ausbrennen
(fig inf) to burn oneself outsich kaputtmachen (inf), → sich völlig verausgaben
vt sep
enemy troops etcausräuchern; they were burned out of house and homeihr Haus und Hof war abgebrannt
usu pass burned out cars/housesausgebrannte Autos/Häuser; he/his talent is burned out (inf)mit ihm/seinem Talent ists vorbei (inf), → er hat sich völlig verausgabt; he looked completely burned out (inf)er sah völlig kaputt (inf)or verbraucht aus
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in periodicals archive ?
To my understanding distress and burn out must have been more common due to socio-economic conditions and number of patient every physician needs to see in 3rd world countries.
The Burn Out is a motoring contest that tests a peeler's (the driver's) skill at burning rubber while commandeering a vehicle, often equipped with new tires.
Garda Caroline Greenan said the smoke-burning stunts caused the car's turbo to burn out.