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flare

Pronunciation: /flɛə̯/

The English word “flare” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A sudden bright light.
  2. A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
  3. A type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light without an explosion, used to attract attention in an emergency, to illuminate an area, or as a decoy.
  4. A flame produced by a burn-off of waste gas (flare gas) from a flare tower (or flare stack), typically at an oil refinery.
  5. A sudden eruption or outbreak; a flare-up.
  6. A widening of an object with an otherwise roughly constant width.
  7. The increase in width of most ship hulls with increasing height above the waterline.
  8. Bell-bottom trousers.
  9. The transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.
  10. A low fly ball that is hit in the region between the infielders and the outfielders.
  11. A route run by the running back, releasing toward the sideline and then slightly arcing upfield looking for a short pass.
  12. An inflammation such as of tendons (tendonitis) or joints (osteoarthritis).
  13. A breakdance move of someone helicoptering his torso on alternating arms.

verb

  1. To cause to burn; in particular, to burn off excess gas.
  2. To cause inflammation; to inflame.
  3. To open outward in shape.
  4. To (operate an aircraft to) transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.
  5. To blaze brightly.
  6. To shine out with a sudden and unsteady light; to emit a dazzling or painfully bright light.
  7. To shine out with gaudy colours; to be offensively bright or showy.

Etymology

Origin uncertain, first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“to burn”). Norwegian flara (“to blaze; to flaunt in gaudy attire”) has a similar meaning, but the English word predates it. Possibly related to Middle High German vlederen (“to flutter”), represented by modern German flattern. The noun is derived from the verb.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.