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Burn down   /bərn daʊn/   Listen
verb
Burn  v. t.  (past & past part. burned or burnt; pres. part. burning)  
1.
To consume with fire; to reduce to ashes by the action of heat or fire; frequently intensified by up: as, to burn up wood. "We'll burn his body in the holy place."
2.
To injure by fire or heat; to change destructively some property or properties of, by undue exposure to fire or heat; to scorch; to scald; to blister; to singe; to char; to sear; as, to burn steel in forging; to burn one's face in the sun; the sun burns the grass.
3.
To perfect or improve by fire or heat; to submit to the action of fire or heat for some economic purpose; to destroy or change some property or properties of, by exposure to fire or heat in due degree for obtaining a desired residuum, product, or effect; to bake; as, to burn clay in making bricks or pottery; to burn wood so as to produce charcoal; to burn limestone for the lime.
4.
To make or produce, as an effect or result, by the application of fire or heat; as, to burn a hole; to burn charcoal; to burn letters into a block.
5.
To consume, injure, or change the condition of, as if by action of fire or heat; to affect as fire or heat does; as, to burn the mouth with pepper. "This tyrant fever burns me up." "This dry sorrow burns up all my tears."
6.
(Surg.) To apply a cautery to; to cauterize.
7.
(Chem.) To cause to combine with oxygen or other active agent, with evolution of heat; to consume; to oxidize; as, a man burns a certain amount of carbon at each respiration; to burn iron in oxygen.
To burn, To burn together, as two surfaces of metal (Engin.), to fuse and unite them by pouring over them a quantity of the same metal in a liquid state.
To burn a bowl (Game of Bowls), to displace it accidentally, the bowl so displaced being said to be burned.
To burn daylight, to light candles before it is dark; to waste time; to perform superfluous actions.
To burn one's fingers, to get one's self into unexpected trouble, as by interfering the concerns of others, speculation, etc.
To burn out,
(a)
to destroy or obliterate by burning. "Must you with hot irons burn out mine eyes?"
(b)
to force (people) to flee by burning their homes or places of business; as, the rioters burned out the Chinese businessmen.
To be burned out, to suffer loss by fire, as the burning of one's house, store, or shop, with the contents.
To burn up, To burn down, to burn entirely.


Burn  v. i.  (past & past part. burned or burnt; pres. part. burning)  
1.
To be of fire; to flame. "The mount burned with fire."
2.
To suffer from, or be scorched by, an excess of heat. "Your meat doth burn, quoth I."
3.
To have a condition, quality, appearance, sensation, or emotion, as if on fire or excessively heated; to act or rage with destructive violence; to be in a state of lively emotion or strong desire; as, the face burns; to burn with fever. "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?" "The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, Burned on the water." "Burning with high hope." "The groan still deepens, and the combat burns." "The parching air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire."
4.
(Chem.) To combine energetically, with evolution of heat; as, copper burns in chlorine.
5.
In certain games, to approach near to a concealed object which is sought. (Colloq.)
To burn up, To burn down, to be entirely consumed.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Burn down" Quotes from Famous Books



... to go to bed, when the servants ran out of the cook-house, which was a stone's-throw from the cottage, crying out, "Fire!" and in a few minutes we saw it wrapped in flames. Of course a house built of sticks and leaves does not take long to burn down to the ground, but we were distressed to hear the bleatings of the little kid which could not be got out in time. The ducks, too, were still in the long basket coop in which they were carried up, and were literally roasted in their feathers before anybody remembered them. ...
— Sketches of Our Life at Sarawak • Harriette McDougall
... when confinement upon bread and water has tamed you. I will come once more, but it will be the last time; and, mark you, should your people be defeated—the Danes I mean—still your escape would not necessarily follow; the house might take fire, it is of timber, and would soon burn down; a ...
— Alfgar the Dane or the Second Chronicle of Aescendune • A. D. Crake
... promptly. "When I look at them white gals, that ought to be rosy-cheeked an' bright-eyed an' plump an' hearty an' happy, an' them po' little child'en that never get a chance to go fishin' or swimmin' or to learn anything, I allow I wouldn' mind if the durned old mill would catch fire an' burn down. They work children there from six years old up, an' half of 'em die of consumption before they're grown. It's a durned outrage, an' if I ever go to the Legislatur', for which I mean to run, I'll try ...
— The Colonel's Dream • Charles W. Chesnutt
... off bit by bit until the longest coil is at length exhausted. We must never forget that, if we would shine, we must burn. Too many of us want to shine, but are not prepared to pay the cost that must be faced by every true man that wants to illuminate his time. We must burn down until there is but an eighth of an inch left in the candlestick, till the light flickers a little and drops, makes one more eager effort, and then ceases to ...
— John the Baptist • F. B. Meyer
... and she kept out of their way. Once some women, venturing nearer than usual to the plantation, saw her washing clothes in the brook, and they threw stones at her. After that the trader was told to give her the message that if she used the brook again men would come and burn down ...
— The Moon and Sixpence • W. Somerset Maugham
... good, but, my dear dolt, what of that? So everything is for the good of grownup people; but does that make us contented? It is doubtless for our good in the long run that we lose our pocketbooks, and break our arms, and catch a fever, and have our brothers defraud a bank, and our houses burn down, and people steal our umbrellas, and borrow our books and never return them. In fact, we know that upon certain conditions all things work together for our good, but, notwithstanding, we find some things a great bore; and we may talk to our children of ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 63, January, 1863 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... hugged, and I was made to hug them! Here, you ten times damned dog of a landlord, bring me another bottle of your filthy wine, or I'll make a hole in your barrel of a body! Be quick, or I'll roast you on your own spit, and burn down your stinking old inn!" At this moment he saw me, as I stood in the doorway. "Come, monsieur!" he cried, "I'm not fastidious, curse me, and you might drink with me if you were the poxy old Pope himself! Here, wench, go and welcome the gentleman with a kiss!" And he shoved the ...
— An Enemy To The King • Robert Neilson Stephens
... we had our trouble here too, Vincent. A number of the slaves from some of the plantations came along this way, and wanted our hands to join them to burn down their quarters and the house, and to march to Richmond. Tony and Dan, hearing of their approach, armed themselves with your double-barreled guns, went down and called out the hands and armed them with hoes and other implements. When the negroes came up there was a desperate quarrel, ...
— With Lee in Virginia - A Story of the American Civil War • G. A. Henty
... way they work us poor devils," Joe was remarking. "If I didn't bowl up, I'd break loose an' burn down the shebang. My bowlin' up is all that saves 'em, ...
— Martin Eden • Jack London
... occupied to care for these insignificant events. He sent word that when he had time he would come and burn down Peter's wooden town. He was leading a victorious army toward Poland, he had beheaded the traitorous Patkul, and everything was bowing before him. The great Marlborough was suing for his aid in the coalition against Louis XIV. in the War of the Spanish Succession. Flushed with victory, ...
— A Short History of Russia • Mary Platt Parmele


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