verb, flared, flar⋅ing, noun | 1. | to burn with an unsteady, swaying flame, as a torch or candle in the wind. |
| 2. | to blaze with a sudden burst of flame (often fol. by up): The fire flared up as the paper caught. |
| 3. | to start up or burst out in sudden, fierce activity, passion, etc. (often fol. by up or out): Tempers flared at the meeting. Violence flared up in a new section of the city. |
| 4. | to shine or glow. |
| 5. | to spread gradually outward, as the end of a trumpet, the bottom of a wide skirt, or the sides of a ship. |
| 6. | to cause (a candle, torch, etc.) to burn with a swaying flame. |
| 7. | to display conspicuously or ostentatiously. |
| 8. | to signal by flares of fire or light. |
| 9. | to cause (something) to spread gradually outward in form. |
| 10. | Metallurgy. to heat (a high-zinc brass) to such a high temperature that the zinc vapors begin to burn. |
| 11. | to discharge and burn (excess gas) at a well or refinery. |
| 12. | a flaring or swaying flame or light, as of torches in the wind. |
| 13. | a sudden blaze or burst of flame. |
| 14. | a bright blaze of fire or light used as a signal, a means of illumination or guidance, etc. |
| 15. | a device or substance used to produce such a blaze of fire or light. |
| 16. | a sudden burst, as of zeal or of anger. |
| 17. | a gradual spread outward in form; outward curvature: the flare of a skirt. |
| 18. | something that spreads out. |
| 19. | Optics. unwanted light reaching the image plane of an optical instrument, resulting from extraneous reflections, scattering by lenses, and the like. |
| 20. | Photography. a fogged appearance given to an image by reflection within a camera lens or within the camera itself. |
| 21. | Also called solar flare. Astronomy. a sudden and brief brightening of the solar atmosphere in the vicinity of a sunspot that results from an explosive release of particles and radiation. |
| 22. | Football. a short pass thrown to a back who is running toward a sideline and is not beyond the line of scrimmage. |
| 23. | Television. a dark area on a picture tube caused by variations in light intensity. |
| 24. | flare out or up, to become suddenly enraged: She flares up easily. |

flare (flâr)
n.
An area of redness on the skin surrounding the primary site of infection or irritation.