burn up

From burn +‎ up. Compare Middle English upbrennynge, upbrennende (“burning up”, present participle), German Low German upbrannen (“to burn up”).

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burn up (third-person singular simple present burns up, present participle burning up, simple past and past participle burned up or burnt up)

1. (intransitive) To catch fire and burn until destroyed.

   Near-synonyms: go up in smoke; see also Thesaurus:combust

   Coordinate terms: burn away, burn down, burn off

   The rocket may burn up on reentry.

2. (transitive) To destroy by burning.

   Coordinate terms: burn away, burn down, burn off; fire up, light up

3. (transitive) To anger; to annoy.

   Near-synonyms: incense; see also Thesaurus:enrage, Thesaurus:annoy

   His thoughtlessness really burns me up.

4. (intransitive) To be angry or annoyed.
   • 1980 February 9, Bruce MacDonald, “Cultural Preparation”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 28, page 4:

     One morning […] we stood around the office talking and laughing, having a good time, when one man, Tim, made a job ^[sic] about "fags." Right then we had to leave, and soon we were warming up our cars on the street. Naturally I was burning up about the comment, and decided to do something about it, though even as I got out of my car to walk up to Tim's, I wasn't sure what.

5. (intransitive) To be or feel overly hot or inflamed.

   Near-synonyms: steam, swelter

   It's the middle of summer; I know it's going to be burning up outside.

   Now that we've been walking awhile, I'm burning up in this coat! Time to take it off.

   1. (intransitive, specifically) To experience a high fever.

      She felt the child's forehead and discovered that he was burning up!

6. (dated) To ride a motorcycle or other vehicle at high speed.

   Coordinate term: tear it up

7. (intransitive, bowling, of a ball) To use up too much energy when first bowled and to therefore not finishing strongly.

   Synonyms: roll out, burn out

burn up (plural burn ups)

1. Misspelling of burnup.