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. --Shak.
This dry sorrow burns up all my tears. --Dryden.
When the cold north wind bloweth, . . . it devoureth
the mountains, and burneth the wilderness, and
consumeth the grass as fire. --Ecclus.
xliii. 20, 21.
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. --Shak.
{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}, to destroy or obliterate by burning. ``Must
you with hot irons burn out mine eyes?'' --Shak.
{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.