Informal. an object of one's passionate love; sweetheart: He's taking out his new flame tonight.
9.
ComputerSlang. an angry, critical, or disparaging electronic message, as an e-mail or newsgroup post.
–verb (used without object)
10.
to burn with a flame or flames; burst into flames; blaze.
11.
to glow like flame; shine brilliantly; flash.
12.
to burn or burst forth with strong emotion; break into open anger, indignation, etc.
13.
ComputerSlang. to send an angry, critical, or disparaging electronic message.
–verb (used with object)
14.
to subject to the action of flame or fire.
15.
to flambé.
16.
ComputerSlang. to insult or criticize angrily in an electronic message.
—Verb phrase
17.
flame out,
a.
(of a jet engine) to cease to function due to an interruption of the fuel supply or to faulty combustion.
b.
to burst out in or as if in flames.
[Origin: 1300–50; (n.) ME flaume < AF, var. of flaumbe; OF flambe, earlier flamble < L flammula, dim. of flamma flame (see -ule); (v.) ME flaumen < AF flaum(b)er; OF flamber < L flammāre, deriv. of flamma]
—Related forms
flamer, noun
flameless, adjective
flamelike, adjective
—Synonyms 1. fire. Flame,blaze,conflagration refer to the light and heat given off by combustion. Flame is the common word, referring to a combustion of any size: the light of a match flame. Blaze usually denotes a quick, hot, bright, and comparatively large flame: The fire burst into a blaze. Conflagration refers to destructive flames which spread over a considerable area: A conflagration destroyed Chicago.
The zone of burning gases and fine suspended matter associated with rapid combustion; a hot, glowing mass of burning gas or vapor.
The condition of active, blazing combustion: burst into flame.
Something resembling a flame in motion, brilliance, intensity, or shape.
A violent or intense passion.
Informal A sweetheart.
Informal An insulting criticism or remark meant to incite anger, as on a computer network.
v.
flamed, flam·ing, flames
v.
intr.
To burn brightly; blaze.
To color or flash suddenly: cheeks that flamed with embarrassment.
Informal To make insulting criticisms or remarks, as on a computer network, to incite anger.
v.
tr.
To burn, ignite, or scorch (something) with a flame.
Informal To insult or criticize provokingly, as on a computer network.
Obsolete To excite; inflame.
Phrasal Verb(s): 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).
[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman flaumbe, variant of Old French flambe, from flamble, from Latin flammula, diminutive of flamma; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
c.1340, from Anglo-Fr. flaume, from O.Fr. flamme, from L. flammula "small flame," dim. of flamma "flame," from PIE *bhleg-/*phleg-. The meaning "a sweetheart" is attested from 1647; the fig sense of "burning passion" was in M.E. The verb is M.E. flamen, from O.Fr. flamer; the verb sense of "unleash invective on a computer network" is from 1980s. Flamer, flaming "glaringly homosexual" are homosexual slang from 1970s, but flamer "glaringly conspicuous person or thing" (1809) and flaming "glaringly conspicuous" (1781) are much earlier in the general sense, both originally with reference to "wenches." Flaming as an intensifying adj. dates from late 19c. Flame-thrower (1917) translates Ger. flammenwerfer (1915).
the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and (often) smoke; "fire was one of our ancestors' first discoveries" [syn: fire]
verb
1.
shine with a sudden light; "The night sky flared with the massive bombardment" [syn: flare]
2.
be in flames or aflame; "The sky seemed to flame in the Hawaiian sunset"
3.
criticize harshly, usually via an electronic medium; "the person who posted an inflammatory message got flamed"
flameAudio Help (flām) Pronunciation Key
The hot, glowing mixture of burning gases and tiny particles that arises from combustion. Flames get their light either from the fluorescence of molecules or ions that have become excited, or from the incandescence of solid particles involved in the combustion process, such as the carbon particles from a candle.
flamemessaging To rant, to speak or write incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude or with hostility toward a particular person or group of people. "Flame" is used as a verb ("Don't flame me for this, but..."), a flame is a single flaming message, and "flamage" /flay'm*j/ the content. Flamage may occur in any medium (e.g. spoken, electronic mail, Usenet news, World-Wide Web). Sometimes a flame will be delimited in text by marks such as "...". The term was probably independently invented at several different places. Mark L. Levinson says, "When I joined the Harvard student radio station (WHRB) in 1966, the terms flame and flamer were already well established there to refer to impolite ranting and to those who performed it. Communication among the students who worked at the station was by means of what today you might call a paper-based Usenet group. Everyone wrote comments to one another in a large ledger. Documentary evidence for the early use of flame/flamer is probably still there for anyone fanatical enough to research it." It is reported that "flaming" was in use to mean something like "interminably drawn-out semi-serious discussions" (late-night bull sessions) at Carleton College during 1968-1971. Usenetter Marc Ramsey, who was at WPI from 1972 to 1976, says: "I am 99% certain that the use of "flame" originated at WPI. Those who made a nuisance of themselves insisting that they needed to use a TTY for "real work" came to be known as "flaming asshole lusers". Other particularly annoying people became "flaming asshole ravers", which shortened to "flaming ravers", and ultimately "flamers". I remember someone picking up on the Human Torch pun, but I don't think "flame on/off" was ever much used at WPI." See also asbestos. It is possible that the hackish sense of "flame" is much older than that. The poet Chaucer was also what passed for a wizard hacker in his time; he wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, the most advanced computing device of the day. In Chaucer's "Troilus and Cressida", Cressida laments her inability to grasp the proof of a particular mathematical theorem; her uncle Pandarus then observes that it's called "the fleminge of wrecches." This phrase seems to have been intended in context as "that which puts the wretches to flight" but was probably just as ambiguous in Middle English as "the flaming of wretches" would be today. One suspects that Chaucer would feel right at home on Usenet. [The Jargon File] (2001-03-11)
Blaze\ (bl[=a]z), n. [OE. blase, AS. bl[ae]se, 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.]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. In a blaze, on fire; burning with a flame; filled with, giving, or reflecting light; excited or exasperated. Like blazes, furiously; rapidly. [Low] "The horses did along like blazes tear." --Poem in Essex dialect. Note: 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. Usage: 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.
Bleak\, a. [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. bl[=a]c, bl?c, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS. bl?k, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all from the root of AS. bl[=i]can to shine; akin to OHG. bl[=i]chen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. ? to burn, shine, Skr. bhr[=a]j to shine, and E. flame. ?98. Cf. Bleach, Blink, Flame.]1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.] When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as one that were laid out dead. --Foxe. 2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds. Wastes too bleak to rear The common growth of earth, the foodful ear. --Wordsworth. At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach. --Longfellow. 3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast. -- Bleak"ish, a. -- Bleak"ly, adv. -- Bleak"ness, n.
Fla"grant\, a. [L. flagrans, -antis, p. pr. of flagrate to burn, akin to Gr. ?: cf. F. flagrant. Cf. Flame, Phlox.]1. Flaming; inflamed; glowing; burning; ardent. The beadle's lash still flagrant on their back. --Prior. A young man yet flagrant from the lash of the executioner or the beadle. --De Quincey. Flagrant desires and affections. --Hooker. 2. Actually in preparation, execution, or performance; carried on hotly; raging. A war the most powerful of the native tribes was flagrant. --Palfrey. 3. Flaming into notice; notorious; enormous; heinous; glaringly wicked. Syn: Atrocious; flagitious; glaring. See Atrocious.
![[P]](http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/premium_mh.gif){kind=small}
Audio Help [fleym] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, flamed, flam·ing. 
