flame. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

flame

PRONUNCIATION:	flm
NOUN:	1. The zone of burning gases and fine suspended matter associated with rapid combustion; a hot, glowing mass of burning gas or vapor. 2. The condition of active, blazing combustion: burst into flame. 3. Something resembling a flame in motion, brilliance, intensity, or shape. 4. A violent or intense passion. 5. Informal A sweetheart. 6. Informal An insulting criticism or remark meant to incite anger, as on a computer network.
VERB:	Inflected forms: flamed, flam·ing, flames
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To burn brightly; blaze. 2. To color or flash suddenly: cheeks that flamed with embarrassment. 3. Informal To make insulting criticisms or remarks, as on a computer network, to incite anger.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To burn, ignite, or scorch (something) with a flame. 2. Informal To insult or criticize provokingly, as on a computer network. 3. Obsolete To excite; inflame.
PHRASAL VERB:	flame out To fail: “Only a handful of companies have flamed out in the two decades since the birth of the [biotech] industry” (Rhonda L. Rundle, Wall Street Journal April 6, 1994.)
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Anglo-Norman flaumbe, variant of Old French flambe, from flamble, from Latin flammula, diminutive of flamma. See bhel-¹ in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	flamer —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.