burnt, burned, ppl. a.
(bɜːrnt, bɜːnd)
For forms see the vb.
[f. burn v.1]
1. Set on fire, consumed with fire.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. xiii. 9 Brent faces [Vulg. facies combustæ]. 1535 Coverdale Jer. li. 25 A brente hill. a 1547 Surrey æneid ii. 1015 Reft from the brent Temples of Troy. 1591 Spenser Ruines of Time 19 Th' auncient Genius of that Citie brent. 1611 Bible Jer. li. 25, I wil..make thee a burnt mountaine. Mod. Many objects of value were discovered amid the ruins of the burnt houses. |
b. fig. Fired with passion; inflamed, excited.
| a 1564 Becon Humble Supplic. in Prayers, &c. (1844) 247 Brent with a fervent and unfeigned zeal. 1859 Tennyson Enid 560 All his face Glow'd..So burnt he was with passion. |
2. burnt out:
a. extinct after entire consumption of the fuel; sometimes
fig.;
b. driven out by a conflagration;
cf. burn v. 15.
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. ii. 302 Burnt-out Seigneurs, rally round your Queen! 1837 De Quincey Lake Poets &c. Wks. II. 108 It was a burnt-out volcano. 1887 Manch. Guardian 31 May 5 The burned-out company of the Opéra Comique. 1908 Hardy Dynasts III. vii. ix. 347 This is my burnt-out hour. 1917 T. S. Eliot Prufrock 24 The burnt-out ends of smoky days. 1919 F. Hurst Humoresque 256 She looked up at him with a tired, a burned-out, an ashamed smile. 1926 E. Bowen Ann Lee's 93 Mrs Pym was a fair, burnt-out young woman of twenty-five. 1969 Listener 3 Apr. 472/1 Joss Ackland as Danton, the not entirely burnt-out volcano. |
c. Of a leper: cured (see
quot. 1959),
esp. in
burnt-out case. Also
fig. (
freq. with influence of sense 2 a).
| 1959 G. Greene Congo Jrnl. 10 Feb. (1961) 42 Leprosy cures where disease has been arrested and cured only after the loss of fingers or toes are known as burnt-out cases. 1961 ― (title) A burnt-out case. 1961 New Statesman 24 Feb. 318/1 Yet had this priest not burned at the stake in 1634, he could be discovered in the Congo as a nobler but still walking ‘burnt-out case’. 1961 Encounter XVI. 70 The burnt-out leper is not too obtrusive. 1961 Times Lit. Suppl. 2 June 340/2 His constitution ‘seemed to have broken down, and no career in life lay open’ to him. A burnt-out case. 1968 R. Harris Nice Girl's Story ii. 18 He was probably a burnt-out case—perhaps his wife had perished in the gas chambers. His interest in life, except to get through it somehow, might be dead. |
3. a. Affected or damaged by fire or excessive heat, scorched.
† burnt line: the equator.
† burnt zone: the torrid zone. In
† burnt planet,
† burnt way,
= combust (
Astrol.).
| 1393 Gower Conf. II. 375 They destruied king and all And leften but the brente wall. 1552 Huloet, Burned roste-meate on the spyt. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 59 The marchaunt..passeth to Inde, By the burnte line or Equinoctiall. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World i. 142 Being under the burnt Zone, it was held uninhabitable. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 442 The ground was everywhere so burned and dry. 1862 M. E. Rogers Dom. Life Palestine 17 Cattle were browsing on the scanty burnt-up pasture. |
b. Of persons: That has suffered injury or pain from fire, or agencies resembling fire;
esp. in proverb,
the burnt child dreads the fire.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 1820 Brent child of fier hath mych drede. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 45 Burnt childe fyre dredth. 1674 Duke of Lauderdale in Lauderd. Papers (1885) III. xxxii. 53 A burn'd Child dreads the fire. |
† c. Med. Adust.
burnt choler: ‘choler adust’.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xv. 24 Hoate, cholerique, burnte, and pernicious humors. 1585 Lloyd Treas. Health Y iv, Against a quartaine of burnt coler in haruest, take y⊇ rote of fennel, parcely, of bochers brome, sperage, cinkfoyle. |
4. That has been treated with fire for a specific purpose:
a. Said of earth that has been burn-beated; of clay, bricks, tiles, etc. Also
burnt-iron (see
quot. 1881).
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 97 Þe walles were i-made of brend tile and of glewe in stede of morter. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 687 Harts doe run ouerthwart the burned ground where the dogges can haue no sent. 1834 Brit. Husb. xvii. I. 367 Part of the field was dressed with burned clay. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Burnt iron, in the Bessemer and open-hearth processes, iron which has been exposed to oxidation until all its carbon is gone. |
b. Of gold and silver: Molten, refined by fire.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 988 Þe borȝ watz al of brende golde bryȝt. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1304 His sadel was of brend gold newe ybete. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xxx, A bordur a-boute alle of brent gold. 1488 Inv. Jewels of Jas. III in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) II. 393 Item twa braid pecis of brynt silver bullioune. |
c. Calcined or treated by fire for use as a drug, pigment, etc., as
burnt alum,
burnt carmine,
burnt ochre,
burnt sienna,
burnt sponge,
burnt umber, etc. (see
alum n.,
carmine, etc.);
† burnt-brass,
obs. name for copper sulphate;
† burnt copper, copper oxide;
† burnt lead, lead sulphide.
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 459 Cathereticks, burnt pumice-stone, burnt alum, burnt vitriol, burnt antimony or crocus metallorum..Causticks, live lime, burnt-brasse, sublimat mercury. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Lead, Burnt Lead, plumbum ustum, is..lead melted in a pot with sulphur, and reduced by fire into a brown powder. 1790 Richardson Chem. Princ. Metallic Arts 124 When it [copper] is exposed to a red heat..it separates in scales, which are called burnt copper. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 412 To medical practitioners in general, burnt sponge is known to be the basis of the Coventry remedy. 1844 Thackeray May Gambols in Wks. (1899) XIII. 441, I have so often wandered before with burnt-sienna plough-boys. 1846 Dickens Pictures from Italy 41 Two burnt-sienna natives. 1946 R. Lehmann Gipsy's Baby 78 The expanses of burnt sienna mud. |
d. Impressed by burning or branding; branded.
| 1652 Advt. in Proc. Parliament No. 163 A Browne bay Mare..a burned O upon each hip. |
e. burnt taste,
burnt flavour, etc.: a taste, etc., resembling that of something that has been burnt;
burnt cream = crème brûlée.
| 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. C. 209 Burnt Cream. Take Yolks of four or five Eggs, beat them well in a Stew-pan. Set the Cream on the Furnace [etc.]. 1969 Observer 12 Jan. 32/8 Burnt Cream (layers of custard and clotted cream covered with sugar and browned). |
5. Of wine, etc.: ‘Made hot’ (J.); see
quot. 1876; the precise early sense is doubtful. (Now only
dial.)
burnt brandy: that from which part of the spirit has been removed by burning.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. 120 Commyng to..a tavern, called for burnt-wine, sacke, malmesie, hipocras and what not. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 222 Ile giue you a pottle of burn'd sacke. 1661 Pepys Diary 15 Jan., A cupp of burnt wine at the taverne. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 36 ¶5 I'll lay Ten to Three, I drink Three Pints of burnt Claret at your Funeral. 1876 F. Robinson Whitby Gloss. Pref. 9 ‘Burnt wine from a silver flagon’ was handed..being a heated preparation of port wine with spices and sugar. 1880 Barman's Man. 55 Burnt brandy..one glass of Cognac and half a table-spoonful of white sugar, burnt in a saucer. |
6. Affected as with burning.
a. Of grain: Affected by smut, ergot, etc.;
cf. 7.
| 1597 Gerard Herbal i. lvii. 77 Burnt Rie hath no one good property. 1806 R. Andrews in Young Agric. Essex I. 295, Ears of smut, or what we call burnt wheat. |
b. Affected by venereal disease.
| 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 289 A burnt whore. |
c. (See
quot.)
| 1909 Daily Chron. 23 Feb. 7/2 The buyer should beware of..burnt furs. Such furs have been over-dyed, and the hair will soon become rusty and fall out. |
7. Comb., as
burnt almond, an almond enclosed in burnt sugar; hence, a fashion shade of brown;
† burnt-cat [F.
chat brûlé], a sort of pear;
burnt cork, cork that has been burnt so that it can be used for blackening the face, hands, etc.;
freq. attrib., as
burnt-cork artist, a Negro minstrel (see
Negro 3);
burnt-cork v. trans., to blacken with burnt cork;
burnt-corked a., blackened with burnt cork;
burnt-ear, a disease in corn, in which, owing to the growth of a minute fungus
Uredo segetum, the ear appears covered with blackened powder;
burnt feed Austral. (see
quot.);
† burnt-marked a., branded;
burnt stuff Austral. (see
quot. 1945).
| 1850 Family Friend III. 327/1 Put a *burnt almond..in the centre. 1892 Encycl. Pract. Cookery 14/2 Pound the Burnt Almonds..in a mortar. 1895 Cassell's Fam. Mag. June 554/1 [A bonnet] of burnt-almond straw. 1913 ‘Ascott R. Hope’ Half & Half Trag. 121 Treating me to twopence worth of ‘burned almonds’. |
| 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 80 The Pot calls the Pan *burnt-arse. |
| 1676 Worlidge Cyder (1691) 216 *Burnt-cat, Lady-pear, Ice-pear..are all very good winter-pears. |
| c 1800 C. Mathews in Mrs. Mathews Mem. C. M. (1838) I. xv. 305 Camel's hair pencils, hare's feet, whiting, *burnt corks. 1840 Burnt Cork [see cork n.1 1]. 1869 Porcupine 3 July 123/1 The Theatre Royal has within the last week or two been usurped by a company of the ‘burnt cork’ professors. 1873 ‘Ascott R. Hope’ Night before Holidays (1874) 98 We had one very fine false beard,..and there was plenty of burned cork to be had. 1880 E. James Amat. Negro Minstrel's Guide 10 A pair of legs such as Nelse Seymour had..are great attractions in a burnt-cork artist. 1893 P. H. Emerson (title) Signor Lippo, burnt-cork artiste. |
| 1884 Liverpool Daily Post 2 Jan. 4/7 Their *burnt-corked faces. 1885 Jerome On the Stage 3 We..burnt-corked our hands and faces. 1898 Daily News 6 May 2/6 For money-making it is necessary to wear masks or to burnt-cork the face. |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. 150 (E.D.S.) *Burnt-ear, Ustilago in corn. 1835 Penny Cycl. III. 465/2 Diseases to which barley is subject..the smut, the burnt ear, blight. |
| 1848 H. W. Haygarth Bush Life Australia vii. 73 A patch of ‘*burnt feed’ (as the young herbage is called which springs up..where the old grass has been set on fire). |
| 1705 in Lond. Gaz. No. 4163/4 A..Mare..*burnt-marked on the near Hip with H. |
| 1852 J. Bonwick Notes Gold Digger 9 Some neighbouring bearded digger turns round and condescendingly remarks, that it is only the ‘*burnt stuff’. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. v. 94 Burnt stuff, a stratum of iron-hard rock or compacted clay and rock encountered during digging. |
8. burnt (colour), a deep shade of yellowish brown; so
burnt-coloured adj.| 1896 Daily News 2 July 8/7 Hats of ‘burnt’ straw, this being the technical name of a deep shade of yellowish brown. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 20 Apr. 3/3 Burnt-coloured straw. 1923 Weekly Dispatch 25 Feb. 14 Colours: Navy,..Nut, Mastic and Burnt. |
b. Of a colour or shade of colour: having the appearance of darkening by scorching.
| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 360/3 Colors for Artists... Burnt Roman Ochre—Burnt Sienna—Burnt Terre Verte. 1923 Daily Mail 19 Feb. 5 Coloured Shantung... In a full range of new colourings, including..Rose, Burnt Orange, Almond, [etc.]. Ibid. 19 Mar. 1 Burnt Gold. |