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to feel the heat

to feel the heat

14 3.4
To notice warmth on your skin from the sun or a fire
  • idiom
translation icon : sentir el calor
  • When I stood close to the campfire, I could feel the heat radiating from the flames.
  • feel the heat rising
  • feel the heat of the sun
  • feel the heat from the flames

So you'd smell the wood and feel the heat coming off of it.

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Examples

  • I feel the heat coming off those cards.

  • Even with the air-conditioning unit running, he was starting to feel the heat.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • I mean, I can feel the heat on my hand here, but the water still feels pretty cool.

  • -Can you feel the heat?

  • I can feel the heat already.

  • I can feel the heat rising in my body.

  • I'd watch the fire and feel the heat on my face.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • I heard a mighty explosion and felt the heat of the fire on my face.

  • I walked along the runway, feeling the heat from the desert, and watching the sky.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • But if the Earth's climate is changing, Shishmaref won't be the only place to feel the heat.

    Academic text (2006)

Synonyms

to feel like a kidsicle
vsto feel the heat
  • Slang
9.9

To be very hot and uncomfortable, like melting in the sun

sense warmth from a source without much discomfort

Antonyms

1.0

Having a low temperature that feels chilly

65 1.0

A pleasant, fairly low temperature

How Accurate

to calibrate
  • Specialized
36 6.0
to feel the heat
14 3.4

Surface Forms

feel the heat infinitive
feeling the heat present participle
feels the heat third person singular
felt the heat past participle

Morphology

feel + the + heat

The meaning 'to sense or perceive warmth' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'feel' (to perceive by touch) with 'heat' (warmth); the definite article 'the' does not change compositionality. This is a common, literal construction cross-linguistically and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Feel the heat comes from the simple image of standing near the sun or a fire and actually feel the heat on your skin. So it means 'to feel warmth' from something like sunlight or a stove.