(bûrn) v. burned or burnt, burn·ing v.t.
1. To destroy or consume by fire.
2. To set afire; ignite.
3. To injure or kill by fire; execute by fire.
4. To injure or damage by friction, heat, steam, etc.; scald; wither.
5. To produce by fire, as a hole in a suit.
6. To brand; also, to cauterize.
7. To finish or harden by intense heat; fire.
8. To use; employ, so as to give off light, heat, etc.
9. To cause a feeling of heat in: The pepper burned his tongue.
10. To sunburn.
11. Chem. To cause to undergo combustion.
12. Slang To electrocute.
13. Slang To cheat.
—v.i.
14. To be on fire; blaze.
15. To be destroyed or scorched by fire; undergo change by fire.
16. To give off light, heat, etc.; shine.
17. To die by fire.
18. To appear or feel hot: He burns with fever.
19. To be eager, excited, or inflamed.
20. Chem. To oxidize; undergo combustion.
21. Slang To be electrocuted.
—to burn down To be razed by fire.
—to burn one's fingers To suffer from taking part in.
—to burn out
1. To become extinguished through lack of fuel.
2. To destroy or wear out by heat, friction, etc.
3. To burn up the house, store, or property of.
4. To drive out by heat.
—to burn the candle at both ends To exhaust one's strength by overwork or dissipation.
—to burn up
1. To consume by fire.
2. Slang To make or become irritated or enraged.
—noun
1. An effect or injury from burning; a burnt place.
2. A brand.
3. The process of burning.
4. Usually plural A defective area in window glass caused by overheating in the annealing furnace.
5. A place where vegetation has been burned away, in a forest, on the prairie, etc. [Fusion of OE beornan be on fire and OE bœrnan set afire] Synonyms (verb): blaze, brand, cauterize, char, consume, cremate, flame, flash, ignite, incinerate, kindle, scorch, singe. To burn is to effect either partial change or complete combustion: to burn wood in the fire; to burn one's hand on a hot stove; the sun burns the face One brands with a hot iron, but cauterizes with some corrosive substance, as silver nitrate. Cremate is now used specifically for consuming a dead body by intense heat. To kindle is to ignite, the scientific word for the same thing. To scorch and to singe are superficial, and to char usually so. Both kindle and burn have extensive figurative use. Compare LIGHT. Antonyms: cool, extinguish, smother, stifle, subdue.

(bûrn) noun Scot.
A brook or rivulet: also spelled bourn, bourne.