burn down

See also: burndown

English

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cause (a structure) to burn to nothing.

   The police are hoping to find the people who burned down the cottage.

2. (intransitive, of a structure) To burn completely, so that nothing remains.

   A fire which started in the bedroom caused the cottage to burn down.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 79:

     The first Earl's Court station (1871) was a wooden hut in the middle of a market garden. It served a District connection between West Brompton and the West London Line. It managed to burn down in 1875, and the Earl's Court of today dates from 1878.

3. (transitive, slang) To kill (someone), especially by shooting; to attack (someone).

Derived terms

• burndown (noun)
• burn one down

Related terms

• burn off
• burn out
• burn up

 

Translations

cause a structure to burn to nothing

• Afrikaans: afbrand
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: опожарявам (bg) (opožarjavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 燒毀／烧毁 (zh) (shāohuǐ), 焚毀／焚毁 (fénhuǐ)

• Dutch: platbranden (nl), afbranden (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: polttaa (fi), polttaa maan tasalle
• French: carboniser (fr)
• Galician: carbonizar (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: abbrennen (de), niederbrennen (de)
• Hungarian: leéget (hu)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: spalać (pl) impf, spalić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: carbonizar (pt)
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: сжечь дотла́ (sžečʹ dotlá)
• Sanskrit: ओषति (sa) (oṣati)
• Spanish: incendiar (es), arrasar (es)
• Swedish: elda upp (sv), bränna ner (sv)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

completely burn so that nothing remains

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 燒光／烧光 (zh) (shāoguāng), 燒掉／烧掉 (zh) (shāodiào)

• Dutch: platbranden (nl), afbranden (nl)
• Finnish: palaa poroksi, palaa maan tasalle
• French: se carboniser (fr)
• Galician: carbonizar (gl) (pronominal)
• German: abbrennen (de), niederbrennen (de)
• Hungarian: leég (hu)
• Polish: spalać (pl) impf, spalić (pl) pf
• Russian: сгоре́ть дотла́ (sgorétʹ dotlá)
• Spanish: incendiarse
• Swedish: brinna ner, brinna upp