flame

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See also: Flamme, Flame, and flamé

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English flawme, blend of Old French flame and flambe, flamble, the first from Latin flamma, the second from Latin flammula, diminutive of flamma, both from pre-Latin *fladma; Proto-Italic *flagmā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shimmer, gleam, shine”). Displaced native Old English līeġ.

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: flām, IPA(key): /fleɪm/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪm

Noun

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flame (countable and uncountable, plural flames)

  2. The visible part of fire; a stream of burning vapour or gas, emitting light and heat.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth […].
    • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
      Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.
  3. A romantic partner or lover in a usually short-lived but passionate affair.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lover
  4. (Internet, somewhat dated) An aggressively insulting criticism or remark.
    • 1995, Paul McFedries, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Usenet Newsgroups, Alpha Books, →ISBN, page 39:
      Flames are, unfortunately, a fact of USENET life. It's a rare USENET regular who hasn't been shaken to the foundations with anger at something some jerk has posted.
  5. A brilliant reddish orange-gold fiery colour.
    flame:  
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, published 1993, page 73:
      [M]arked by myriad clouds of every sunset-colour - flame, purple, pink, green, violet, and all the tints of gold.
  6. (music, chiefly lutherie) The contrasting light and dark figure seen in wood used for stringed instrument making; the curl.
    The cello has a two-piece back with a beautiful narrow flame.
  7. Burning zeal, passion, imagination, excitement, or anger.
  8. (obsolete, botany) A variety of carnation.
    • 1718, Richard Bradley, “Part II. Chapter II: Of Perannual Flowers, the talleſt Blowers. Sect IX. Of the Carnation or July-Flower […] ”, in New Improvements of Planting and Gardening, Both Philoſophical and Practical […] , 2nd edition, London: W. Mears, page 82:
      The Gardeners divide it into Five Claſſes, which they diſtinguiſh by the Name of Picketees, Painted Ladies, Beazarts, Flakes, and Flames: […] the Flames have a red Ground always ſtrip’d with black or very dark Colours.
    • 1812, Peter Forbes, “On going to see a nobleman’s gardener in the neighbourhood”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Edinburgh: R. Menzies, page 89:
      Sic flow’rs o’ sorts ane seldom sees, / Flecks, flames, bussards an’ picketees, / Wi’ strong carnations, like young trees, / To face the entry; […]

Derived terms

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Terms derived from the noun flame
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Terms related to the noun flame

Translations

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Verb

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flame (third-person singular simple present flames, present participle flaming, simple past and past participle flamed)

  1. To produce flames; to burn with a flame or blaze.
  2. To burst forth like flame; to break out in violence of passion; to be kindled with zeal or ardour.
  3. (Internet, transitive, intransitive) To post a destructively critical or abusive message (to somebody).
    I flamed him for spamming in my favourite newsgroup.
    • 1983 October 20, Joe Ziegler, net.motss‎[1] (Usenet):
      I wish you had the nerve to put your own name on that article, rather than logging into a public account to do it. I would have prefered[sic] to respond to you personally, rather than burden the net with my flaming, particularly since opinions like yours are best left ignored. But I feel I must respond to this one.
    • 1989 June 29, Neil McAvoy [Wing Attack Plan R], rec.music.gdead‎[2] (Usenet):
      This was one of the highest points of the show for me. Playin' followed, with a nice jam afterwards. After that, Jerry wandered into Crazy Fingers. (I had been hoping for Terrapin...oh well. Crazy Fingers seems to highlight Jerry's ability to come in late and tentative on lyrics. I'm sure I'll get flamed, since lots of folks seem to worship CF.)
    • 2001, w:Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:
      If he got flamed for his lies or his ignorance, he simply moved to another chat room.
    • 2019, Steven McCornack, Kelly Morrison, Reflect & Relate, 5th edition:
      Because online communication makes it easy to flame, many of us impetuously fire off messages that we later regret.

Derived terms

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Translations

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to post a critical or abusive message on the Internet
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

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flame (not comparable)

  1. Of a brilliant reddish orange-gold colour, like that of a flame.

Translations

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See also

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Anagrams

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French

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Middle French flame.

Noun

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flame f (plural flames)

  1. Obsolete spelling of flamme.

Etymology 2

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Verb

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flame

  1. inflection of flamer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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flame

  1. Alternative form of flawme

Etymology 2

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Verb

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flame

  1. Alternative form of flawmen

Old French

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Etymology

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From Latin flamma.

Noun

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flame oblique singular, f (oblique plural flames, nominative singular flame, nominative plural flames)

  1. flame

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → English: flame
  • Middle French: flame

Romanian

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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flame f

  1. inflection of flamă:
    1. indefinite plural
    2. indefinite genitive/dative singular

Walloon

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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flame f (plural flames)

  1. flame
    Synonym: blame
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