to burn rubber
5
7.0
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
acelerar
- The driver burns rubber.
- burned rubber in a car
- tires burning rubber
- burn rubber down the street
Oh man, somebody, somebody been burning rubber out here while I was sleeping.
- Oh man, somebody, somebody been burning rubber out here while I was sleeping.
Examples
-
Let's burn rubber!
-
The car burns rubber, almost skids over the cliff!
Fiction book (1997) -
And now, for the man voted most likely to burn rubber in a drive through.
-
The car burns rubber, trying to accelerate.
Fiction book (2001) -
Eric dives inside, and the car burns rubber.
Fiction book (1994) -
He jumps in the car and burns rubber.
Fiction book (1997) -
We gotta burn rubber.
-
Let's burn rubber.
-
Serafine hops on the back, and they burn rubber down the street after Gaston.
Fiction book (1997) -
As the light turned green, he couldn't resist the urge to burn rubber and sped off, leaving tire marks on the pavement.
Antonyms
How Fast
- Informal
- Informal
5
7.0
- Specialized
331
3.7
86
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The combination 'burn' + 'rubber' evokes the literal image of rubber being scorched or smoking, which can cue learners to think of tires and friction; this provides a clear clue to an automotive action. However, the specific sense 'to accelerate quickly so tires skid/leave marks' is a metaphorical extension of that image and not strictly predictable from the parts, so a B1 learner may need prior exposure to fully grasp it.
Etymology
The phrasal verb burn rubber comes from the image of a car's tires spinning so fast they smoke and the rubber seems to burn, leaving black marks on the road. That's why it now means 'to accelerate a vehicle very quickly'.