burn down
Completely consume by fire, burn to the ground, as in Their house burned down and they had nowhere to go. [Mid-1800s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
How to use burn down in a sentence
Villagers began running from the ambulances, trying to burn down hospitals, and attacking humanitarian workers.
Europe might burn down its pampered class of bureaucrats and drag out its coats of arms.
“V. Asaro directed CW-1 and J. Asaro to burn down the club so that the new business could not open,” the paper says.
A Goodfellas Sequel: A True-Life Lufthansa Figure Comes to Court | Michael Daly | January 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd neither of you were that lunatic who repeatedly threatened to burn down my apartment?
‘Revenge Wears Prada’: The 11 Most Cringeworthy Moments | Abby Haglage | June 4, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTI guess it's unprofessional to hope people's houses burn down, but let's at least wish a parking ticket on them.
Standing straight, protect us by thy splendor from evil; burn down every ghoul.
Sacred Books of the East | VariousWhen kindled, O Agni, burn down like dry brushwood, the man who exercises malice against us.
Sacred Books of the East | VariousExactly because she would burn down a street to boil her baby's milk.
The Substance of a Dream | F. W. BainIf de house burn down ter night we all gwine git de surance sure nough.
Three Little Women | Gabrielle E. JacksonYou'll be wanting the strikers to burn down the shoe-shops the next time we have trouble here.
The Quality of Mercy | W. D. Howells
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