| blaze | 1. A stream of gas or vapor emitting light and heat in the process of combustion; a bright flame. "To heaven the blaze uprolled." 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." "For what is glory but the blaze of fame?" (Milton) 4. [Cf. D.; akin to E. 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. "The horses did along like blazes tear." 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. Synonym: Blaze, Flame. 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. Origin: OE. Blase, AS. Blaese, 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. To mark (a tree) by chipping off a piece of the bark. "I found my way by the blazed trees." (Hoffman) 2. To designate by blazing; to mark out, as by blazed trees; as, to blaze a line or path. "Champollion died in 1832, having done little more than blaze out the road to be traveled by others." (Nott) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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