▪ I. flaming, vbl. n.
(ˈfleɪmɪŋ)
[f. flame v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb flame. Also concr., something which flames or resembles a flame.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 970 The flammyng of þe flese was ferly to see. 1546 Bale Eng. Votaries i. 39/1 A..starre, whiche semed with flamynges of fyre to fall into the sea. 1703 tr. H. van Oosten's Dutch Gardener iii. ii. 153 Concerning the Striping or Flaming, it must be low, beginning from the bottom of the Flower. 1854 Ruskin Lect. Archit. Add. 128 Wherever colour is introduced, ornamentation..may consist in mere spots, or bands, or flamings. |
▸ Computing slang. The action or practice of sending inflammatory, abusive, or (occas.) inconsequential messages by e-mail or as a posting to a newsgroup, freq. in an impulsively angry response to a previous message or a perceived breach of Internet etiquette. Cf. flame v., flamer n., flamage n.
| 1983 Time 9 May 16/1 ‘Flaming’ is another favorite hacker activity. 1985 PC Week 19 Mar. 63/4 He will tell you of the high incidence of ‘Flaming’—rude remarks made via electronic mail. 1992 Personal Computer World Dec. 448/3 In place of the usual all too polite exchanges on things boringly technical and social, one of the forums was playing host to some of the most energetic ‘flaming’ I'd seen for some time. 1998 Australian (Brisbane) 2 June 15/1 This e-mail message came from a young American woman who received abusive e-mail that pushed her to attempt suicide last year, and lawyers are worried that the cost of this type of ‘flaming’ is rising dangerously in both legal and human terms. 2000 J. H. Lipschultz Free Expression in Age of Internet viii. 206 Flaming, from a social influence perspective, may be the product of either misunderstanding or of dyadic communication in which people know each other too well. |
▪ II. flaming, ppl. a.
(ˈfleɪmɪŋ)
Also 4 flammande, flaumbeand, 5 flawmand.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. a. That flames; in flames or on fire, as a combustible; esp. in flaming sword.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiii. 150 Þe flawmand swerde þat Godd ordaynd þare before þe entree. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xliii. ix, Thus in flamynge tonges all aboute I flye. 1611 Bible Gen. iii. 24 A flaming sword. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 137 The spoil, and cattle, of the flaming villages. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 88 Nor yon volcano's flaming fountains. |
| fig. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.) 191 A flawmyng vertu dwellys yn þe hert. 1509 Hawes Joyf. Medit. 17 O flambynge honour of euery hardy herte. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. ii. 16 O these flaming spirits! 1874 Morley Compromise (1886) 264 The flaming hopes of its friends. |
† b. flaming chapel = F. chapelle ardente: a chapel or chamber thickly set with lighted tapers.
| 1802 Paris as it was II. lxvii. 318 A flaming chapel was constructed at the entrance of the house. |
c. flaming onions, an anti-aircraft projectile consisting of about ten balls of fire shot upwards in succession, so called from its resemblance to a string of onions (see also quot. 1943). Services' slang.
| 1918 V. Drake Above Battle vi. 118 These ‘flaming onions’ were huge rockets of balls of phosphorus which burst at the top of their climb and spread out into a great umbrella shaped curtain of flame, and sank slowly down, the idea being that any machine in its path would be instantly set fire to by the burning phosphorus. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words, Flaming onions, a colloquial name for a German anti-aircraft projectile. 1928 C. F. S. Gamble N. Sea Air Station xxii. 384 One of the flying-boats..came into a heavy barrage of ‘flaming onions’. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 32 Flaming onions, tracer fire from the ground. |
2. a. Burning hot, inflamed, fiery.
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 841 Red Blisters..And flaming Carbuncles. 1786 Burns ‘Once fondly lov'd’, Who, distant, burns in flaming torrid climes. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 354 As some labourer..Under a flaming sun. 1895 ‘G. Mortimer’ Like Stars that Fall xv, Yes, by God, I'll get flaming drunk. |
b. quasi-adv., as flaming-hot. lit. and fig.
| 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 32 The wind less'ned, and weather grew flaming hot. 1681 Baxter Apol. Nonconf. Min. 111 Flaming-hot Disputer. |
c. Used euphemistically for a profane epithet. Also as adv.
| 1922 D. H. Lawrence England, my England 230 I've never been patient to no flaming doctor, and hope I never shall be. 1936 Punch 10 June 646/1 Some flaming person has gone and stolen my flaming bicycle-pump, flame it all! 1944 Coast to Coast 1943 188 It was lovely work Patsy, but, stone the flamin' crows! you can't do that at your age. 1946 Coast to Coast 1945 163 Brand new line, and you're too flaming lazy to get the lot! 1960 Analog Science Fact/Fiction Oct. 174/1 Miss Fulton says..‘Not bad, but Chandler has done better...’ Too flaming right he has. 1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 61 To hell with the flaming place. 1969 Private Eye 9 May 14 He's saved my life if he only flamin' knew it. |
3. transf. a. Emitting rays of light, flashing, glowing, brilliant. † flaming fly = firefly.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1468 Alle þe fruyt in þo formes of flaumbeande gemmes. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 198 Ffesauntez enflureschit in flammande silver. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3986 Hir ene flamyng fresshe, as any fyne stones. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 116 Our English Glow-wormes, as well as the American, or flaming-flyes, have a luminous juice in their tailes. 1744 Berkeley Siris §187 The glory of the Lord, which was wont to appear in a flaming light. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. vii, The large yellow eye grew more flaming and fiery. |
b. in regard to colour: Resembling flame, very bright or vivid.
| c 1450 Crt. of Love 793 Her mouth is short..Flaming somedele, not over red. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 297 The Bannana's..from a dark-greene, mellow into a flaming yellow. 1718 Prior Solomon i. xxxvi, At Noon in flaming Yellow bright. 1863 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. II. i. 3 The flaming poppies among the ripening corn. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VI. xvi. xii. 282 Voltaire has used his flamingest colours on this occasion. |
† c. Of a person: Gaudy, ‘loud’, flaring.
| 1781 R. King London Spy 95 A serjeant of the guards entered..with a flaming wench. |
4. fig. a. Highly coloured, highflown; startling, extravagant.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. ii. 115 He hauing colour enough, and the other higher, is too flaming a praise for a good complexion. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton xi. (1840) 191, I had heard some flaming stories of Captain Avery, and the fine things he had done in the Indies. 1796 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. x. (1813) 224 The good lady..did give him a most flaming character. 1850 Prescott Peru II. 6 The flaming pictures..given by the natives of the riches of the land. 1868 Helps Realmah II. xvii. 287 There comes out a flaming attack against some poor man. |
b. flaming youth [Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 84]: a collective term for young persons, alluding to their characteristically vigorous and unrestrained behaviour or ways. Chiefly U.S.
| 1923 ‘W. Fabian’ (title) Flaming youth. 1937 Time 6 Sept. 40/2 The traditional belief that flaming youth is guilty of most drunken driving accidents was last week scouted by the results of a six-month survey. 1960 J. Mitford Hons & Rebels viii. 58 The Bright Young People had faded from the London scene..as their transatlantic counterparts, the Flaming Youth, had no doubt disappeared from the American scene with the passing of the 'twenties. 1962 Amer. Speech XXXVII. 27 The hectic era of Prohibition, bootleggers, flappers, and flaming youth. Ibid. 31 The age of flaming youth. |
5. Flagrant, glaring, monstrous. ? Obs.
| 1706 Collier Reply to Dr. Filmer (1730) 412 The most flaming Instances of Vice. 1737 Waterland Eucharist 583 A flaming Absurdity. |
6. Like waving flame in appearance; flamboyant.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 192 Vith baneris richt freschly flawmand. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2176/4 A Silver Hilted Sword, with the Blade waved or flaming. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. ix. 177 The blade of this sword not uncommonly affected a wavy or flaming (flamboyante) outline. |
Hence ˈflamingly adv.
| 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. xx. 37 How quaint and flamingly amorous [is Solomon] in the Canticles. 1681 Baxter Acc. Sherlocke v. 203 Why would he meddle (and so flamingly meddle) with what he understands not? 1834 H. Ainsworth Rookwood i. iv. (1878) 31 A flamingly gilt dial. 1888 Harper's Mag. Nov. 838/1 You are flamingly patriotic. |
▸ slang (orig. U.S.). Freq. depreciative. Designating a man whose homosexuality is conspicuous or apparent, esp. because of his flamboyant or effeminate mannerisms or clothing. Freq. in flaming faggot, flaming queen.
| 1941G. Legman in G. W. Henry Sex Variants II. 1165 Flaming,..obviously homosexual; using cosmetics, wearing flamboyant clothes and suede or high-heeled shoes, and generally affecting exaggeratedly feminine mannerisms in order to announce, and attract attention to one's homosexuality. 1969 J. Crumley One to Count Cadence 238 What a flaming queen he is, honey. 1992 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 15 Oct. As they find out that everybody isn't a ‘flaming faggot’ with sequins and five-inch heels coming into town on a Friday night, their attitudes change. 2003 Daily Tel. (Sydney, Austral.) (Nexis) 15 Jan. 2 The debonair but not mincing Will wasn't nearly as flaming as your traditional sitcom gay stereotype. |