From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
flame
n : the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing
heat and light and (often) smoke; "fire was one of our
ancestors' first discoveries" [syn: fire, flaming]
v 1: shine with a sudden light; "The night sky flared with the
massive bombardment" [syn: flare]
2: be in flames or aflame; "The sky seemed to flame in the
Hawaiian sunset"
3: criticize harshly, on the e-mail
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Flame \Flame\ (fl[=a]m), n. [OE. flame, flaume, flaumbe, OF.
flame, flambe, F. flamme, fr. L. flamma, fr. flamma, fr.
flagrare to burn. See Flagrant, and cf. Flamneau,
Flamingo.]
1. A stream of burning vapor or gas, emitting light and heat;
darting or streaming fire; a blaze; a fire.
[1913 Webster]
2. Burning zeal or passion; elevated and noble enthusiasm;
glowing imagination; passionate excitement or anger. "In a
flame of zeal severe." --Milton.
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Where flames refin'd in breasts seraphic glow.
--Pope.
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Smit with the love of sister arts we came,
And met congenial, mingling flame with flame.
--Pope.
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3. Ardor of affection; the passion of love. --Coleridge.
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4. A person beloved; a sweetheart. --Thackeray.
Syn: Blaze; brightness; ardor. See Blaze.
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Flame bridge, a bridge wall. See Bridge, n., 5.
Flame color, brilliant orange or yellow. --B. Jonson.
Flame engine, an early name for the gas engine.
Flame manometer, an instrument, invented by Koenig, to
obtain graphic representation of the action of the human
vocal organs. See Manometer.
Flame reaction (Chem.), a method of testing for the
presence of certain elements by the characteristic color
imparted to a flame; as, sodium colors a flame yellow,
potassium violet, lithium crimson, boracic acid green,
etc. Cf. Spectrum analysis, under Spectrum.
Flame tree (Bot.), a tree with showy scarlet flowers, as
the Rhododendron arboreum in India, and the
Brachychiton acerifolium of Australia.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Flame \Flame\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flamed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Flaming.] [OE. flamen, flaumben, F. flamber, OF. also,
flamer. See Flame, n.]
1. To burn with a flame or blaze; to burn as gas emitted from
bodies in combustion; to blaze.
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The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing
would make it flame again. --Shak.
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2. To burst forth like flame; to break out in violence of
passion; to be kindled with zeal or ardor.
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He flamed with indignation. --Macaulay.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Flame \Flame\, v. t.
To kindle; to inflame; to excite.
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And flamed with zeal of vengeance inwardly. --Spenser.
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From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
flame
<messaging> To rant, to speak or write incessantly and/or
rabidly on some relatively uninteresting subject or with a
patently ridiculous attitude or with hostility toward a
particular person or group of people. "Flame" is used as a
verb ("Don't flame me for this, but..."), a flame is a single
flaming message, and "flamage" /flay'm*j/ the content.
Flamage may occur in any medium (e.g. spoken, {electronic
mail}, Usenet news, World-Wide Web). Sometimes a flame
will be delimited in text by marks such as "<flame
on>...<flame off>".
The term was probably independently invented at several
different places.
Mark L. Levinson says, "When I joined the Harvard student
radio station (WHRB) in 1966, the terms flame and flamer were
already well established there to refer to impolite ranting
and to those who performed it. Communication among the
students who worked at the station was by means of what today
you might call a paper-based Usenet group. Everyone wrote
comments to one another in a large ledger. Documentary
evidence for the early use of flame/flamer is probably still
there for anyone fanatical enough to research it."
It is reported that "flaming" was in use to mean something
like "interminably drawn-out semi-serious discussions"
(late-night bull sessions) at Carleton College during
1968-1971.
Usenetter Marc Ramsey, who was at WPI from 1972 to 1976,
says: "I am 99% certain that the use of "flame" originated at
WPI. Those who made a nuisance of themselves insisting that
they needed to use a TTY for "real work" came to be known as
"flaming asshole lusers". Other particularly annoying people
became "flaming asshole ravers", which shortened to "flaming
ravers", and ultimately "flamers". I remember someone picking
up on the Human Torch pun, but I don't think "flame on/off"
was ever much used at WPI." See also asbestos.
It is possible that the hackish sense of "flame" is much older
than that. The poet Chaucer was also what passed for a wizard
hacker in his time; he wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, the
most advanced computing device of the day. In Chaucer's
"Troilus and Cressida", Cressida laments her inability to
grasp the proof of a particular mathematical theorem; her
uncle Pandarus then observes that it's called "the fleminge of
wrecches." This phrase seems to have been intended in context
as "that which puts the wretches to flight" but was probably
just as ambiguous in Middle English as "the flaming of
wretches" would be today. One suspects that Chaucer would
feel right at home on Usenet.
[Jargon File]
(2001-03-11)
From Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) [jargon]:
flame
[at MIT, orig. from the phrase flaming asshole]
1. vi. To post an email message intended to insult and provoke.
2. vi. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively
uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude.
3. vt. Either of senses 1 or 2, directed with hostility at a
particular person or people.
4. n. An instance of flaming. When a discussion degenerates into
useless controversy, one might tell the participants "Now you're just
flaming" or "Stop all that flamage!" to try to get them to cool down
(so to speak).
The term may have been independently invented at several different
places. It has been reported from MIT, Carleton College and RPI
(among many other places) from as far back as 1969, and from the
University of Virginia in the early 1960s.
It is possible that the hackish sense of `flame' is much older than
that. The poet Chaucer was also what passed for a wizard hacker in
his time; he wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, the most advanced
computing device of the day. In Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida,
Cressida laments her inability to grasp the proof of a particular
mathematical theorem; her uncle Pandarus then observes that it's
called "the fleminge of wrecches." This phrase seems to have been
intended in context as "that which puts the wretches to flight" but
was probably just as ambiguous in Middle English as "the flaming of
wretches" would be today. One suspects that Chaucer would feel right
at home on Usenet.