ablaze

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
17
Words With Friends
19
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/əˈbleɪz/(US)

Definition of ablaze

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Burning fiercely; in a blaze; on fire.
    “1791, The Bee, Volume 4, Short Chronicle of Events, 27 July, 1791, p. v, On entering the walls which surround the house, then all ablaze, a most dreadful conflict took place […]”
    “The canoe, a dim shadowy thing, moves across the black water, / Bearing a torch ablaze at the prow.”
    “So Wang and Tiger’s men rushed into such houses as were not too ablaze and they began to drag out booty of silken pieces and yards of cloth and garments and anything they could carry.”
    “Tony Stark makes you feel He’s a cool exec with a heart of steel. As Iron Man, all jets ablaze, He’s fighting and smiting with repulsor rays! Amazing armor! That’s Iron Man! A blazing power! That’s Iron Man!”
    “Mario Balotelli, in the headlines for accidentally setting his house ablaze with fireworks, put City on their way with goals either side of the interval as United struggled to contain the array of attacking talent in front of them.”
See all 6 definitions

adj

  1. Burning fiercely; in a blaze; on fire.
    “1791, The Bee, Volume 4, Short Chronicle of Events, 27 July, 1791, p. v, On entering the walls which surround the house, then all ablaze, a most dreadful conflict took place […]”
    “The canoe, a dim shadowy thing, moves across the black water, / Bearing a torch ablaze at the prow.”
    “So Wang and Tiger’s men rushed into such houses as were not too ablaze and they began to drag out booty of silken pieces and yards of cloth and garments and anything they could carry.”
    “Tony Stark makes you feel He’s a cool exec with a heart of steel. As Iron Man, all jets ablaze, He’s fighting and smiting with repulsor rays! Amazing armor! That’s Iron Man! A blazing power! That’s Iron Man!”
    “Mario Balotelli, in the headlines for accidentally setting his house ablaze with fireworks, put City on their way with goals either side of the interval as United struggled to contain the array of attacking talent in front of them.”
  2. Radiant with bright light and color.
    “The Heav’ns are all a-blaze, the face of night Is cover’d with a sanguine dreadful light:”
    “All ablaze with crimson and gold.”
    “The day being June the thirtieth, which is the very high-tide time of summer flowers, the immediate neighbourhood of the castle was ablaze with roses, pinks, pansies, carnations, hollyhocks, columbines, larkspurs, London pride, Canterbury bells, and a multitude of other choice blooms.”
    “She loved this hour when the lights were coming up in the causeway: white and blue and orange lights and the hotels and coloured adverts ablaze but not yet effective in the pale twilight.”
    “Autumn is a lovely time to visit as the tree cover near the line is ablaze with colour.”
  3. In a state of glowing excitement, ardent desire, or other strong emotion.
    “c. 1680, uncredited translator, An Essay upon the Action of an Orator by Michel Le Faucheur, London: Nicholas Cox, pp. 184-185, And this Fire of your Eyes easily strikes those of your Auditors, who have theirs constantly fixt upon yours; and it must needs set them a-blaze too upon the same Resentment and Passion.”
    “The young Cambridge democrats were all ablaze to assist Torrijos.”
    “Raoul was ablaze with indignation.”
    “His indifference to Carmen, who has all the other males in sight quivering with a passion never seen on land or sea, sets her ablaze; in a series of scenes which it is difficult to call erotic without adding that they are also infantile, she goes after him and he falls.”
    “[…] Dawit, glorious and fearless, charging at the enemy, […] his eyes ablaze with a hatred so pure that for a moment, the ascaro draws back before he lifts his weapon and aims.”

adv

  1. On fire; in a blaze.
    “[…] with the spontaneous combustion the house smouldered ablaze.”
  2. Lit up brightly and with color, gleaming.
  3. In a state of glowing excitement or ardent desire.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From a- (“on, in”) + blaze (“flame”).

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