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to blaze up

to blaze up

1 4.9
To start burning with a strong bright flame
  • phrasal verb
  • /bleɪz ʌp/
translation icon : flamear
  • The light blazed up to swarm the ceiling like a thousand summer bees threatening, by their very flight and friction, to ignite the dry beams.
  • the fire blazed up

Examples

  • Pain blazed up his leg, and he cried out once—before the quarx panicked, shut off the pain impulses; and then his consciousness, too.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • As he slams the table, Treebeard's jars of light blaze up into fires.

    Blog text (4)
  • Just blaze up and roll the top down

  • Her closeness made the fire blaze up within me once again.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • This 4th of July, every toker in America should blaze up in public.

    Blog text (23)
  • At the edge of the field, she collected downed hickory limbs and dry jack pine, pitched them on the fire, and it soon blazed up and heated a wider circle of air.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • I added some twigs, and the fire began to blaze up brightly.

  • As the logs caught flame, the fire started to blaze up intensely.

  • With a gust of wind, the campfire could blaze up and spread quickly.

Synonyms

to burn
vsto blaze up
181 2.3

To produce light and heat from fire

emphasizes the start of a very bright, intense fire rather than steady glow
to ignite
vsto blaze up
66 4.0

To make something start burning

focuses on a bright, intense beginning rather than merely causing ignition
to blaze
vsto blaze up
58 3.4

To burn or shine with very bright light

means the same intense brightness but stresses the initial moment it begins
to flame
vsto blaze up
34 1.7

To burn or shine with a bright, hot light

refers to the start of a very bright, intense fire rather than ongoing glow
to catch fire
vsto blaze up
32 2.6

To start burning suddenly

adds that the start is especially bright and intense rather than just starting
to flare
vsto blaze up
18 4.2

To burn or shine with a sudden bright light

describes a steady intense beginning rather than brief unsteady flashes
to combust
vsto blaze up
8 7.4

To catch fire or make something burn

specifies a very bright, intense beginning rather than any general ignition
to burn up
vsto blaze up
3 4.6

To light up suddenly with a strong flame or bright light

refers to the start of a very bright, intense fire rather than steady glow
to flame up
vsto blaze up
1 4.6

To suddenly start burning strongly or become much more intense

is mainly literal, marking a bright intense beginning rather than metaphorical
to take fire
vsto blaze up
1 4.8

Start burning and produce flames

highlights a bright and intense beginning rather than a simple onset
to alit
vsto blaze up
  • Archaic
9.9

To start to burn suddenly and brightly

emphasizes a bright and intense beginning rather than mere suddenness
to conflagrate
vsto blaze up
9.9

To catch fire suddenly

focuses on a bright, intense beginning rather than wide spreading damage
to lowe
vsto blaze up
  • Archaic
9.9

To burn with a bright flame or glow

is the neutral modern term for a bright, intense beginning rather than poetic use

Antonyms

20 5.1

To stop a fire or light from burning

18 6.6

To burn slowly and give off smoke without a flame

How Bright

to blaze up
1 4.9
to flare up
23 4.7
to ignite
66 4.0
to glow
161 1.2
to smolder
  • US
18 6.6

Surface Forms

blaze up infinitive
blazed up past
blazed up past participle
blazing up present participle
blazes up third person singular

Morphology

blaze + up

The base verb 'blaze' already means to burn with fierce light or flame, and the particle 'up' commonly adds a sense of onset or intensification (to flare or increase). Together they yield a meaning that is directly and predictably derived from the constituents, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer 'to begin burning brightly/intensely.'

Etymology

Blaze up comes from the clear image of a fire's flames suddenly shooting up into a bright blaze. So it now means 'to begin burning brightly and intensely'.