blaze Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a strong flame that burns brightly
    blazing.
    • the blaze spread rapidly
  2. noun a cause of difficulty and suffering
    hell.
    • war is hell
    • go to blazes
  3. noun noisy and unrestrained mischief
    hell.
    • raising blazes
  4. noun a light within the field of vision that is brighter than the brightness to which the eyes are adapted
    glare; brilliance.
    • a glare of sunlight
  5. noun a light-colored marking
    • they chipped off bark to mark the trail with blazes
    • the horse had a blaze between its eyes
  6. verb shine brightly and intensively
    • Meteors blazed across the atmosphere
  7. verb shoot rapidly and repeatedly
    blaze away.
    • He blazed away at the men
  8. verb burn brightly and intensely
    • The summer sun alone can cause a pine to blaze
  9. verb move rapidly and as if blazing
    blaze out.
    • The spaceship blazed out into space
  10. verb indicate by marking trees with blazes
    • blaze a trail

WordNet

Blaze noun
Etymology
OE. blase, AS. blæse, blase; akin to OHG. blass whitish, G. blass pale, MHG. blas torch, Icel. blys torch; perh. fr. the same root as E. blast. Cf. Blast, Blush, Blink.
Definitions
  1. A stream of gas or vapor emitting light and heat in the process of combustion; a bright flame. "To heaven the blaze uprolled." Croly.
  2. Intense, direct light accompanied with heat; as, to seek shelter from the blaze of the sun.
    O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! Milton.
  3. A bursting out, or active display of any quality; an outburst; a brilliant display. "Fierce blaze of riot." "His blaze of wrath." Shak.
    For what is glory but the blaze of fame? Milton.
  4. Cf. D. bles; akin to E. blaze light. A white spot on the forehead of a horse.
  5. A spot made on trees by chipping off a piece of the bark, usually as a surveyor's mark.
    Three blazes in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicating a legislative road, the single blaze a settlement or neighborhood road. Carlton.
    Poem in Essex dialect. ✍ In low language in the U. S., blazes is frequently used of something extreme or excessive, especially of something very bad; as, blue as blazes. Neal. Syn. -- Blaze, Flame. A blaze and a flame are both produced by burning gas. In blaze the idea of light rapidly evolved is prominent, with or without heat; as, the blaze of the sun or of a meteor. Flame includes a stronger notion of heat; as, he perished in the flames.
Blaze intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Blazed present participle & verbal noun Blazing
Definitions
  1. To shine with flame; to glow with flame; as, the fire blazes.
  2. To send forth or reflect glowing or brilliant light; to show a blaze.
    And far and wide the icy summit blazed. Wordsworth.
  3. To be resplendent. Macaulay.
Blaze transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To mark (a tree) by chipping off a piece of the bark.
    I found my way by the blazed trees. Hoffman.
  2. To designate by blazing; to mark out, as by blazed trees; as, to blaze a line or path.
    Champollion died in 1832, having done little more than blaze out the road to be traveled by others. Nott.
Blaze transitive verb
Etymology
OE. blasen to blow; perh. confused with blast and blaze a flame, OE. blase. Cf. Blaze, v. i., and see Blast.
Definitions
  1. To make public far and wide; to make known; to render conspicuous.
    On charitable lists he blazed his name. Pollok.
    To blaze those virtues which the good would hide. Pope.
  2. (Her.) To blazon. Obs. Peacham.

Webster 1913