Dictionary

flare

Etymology

The noun is derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

(RP) IPA: /flɛə̯/
(America) IPA: /flɛɚ̯/

Noun

flare (plural flares)

A sudden bright light.
A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
solar flare
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗, pages 87–88 ↗:
  In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
1. 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.
  Flares were used to steer the traffic away from the accident.
  The flares attracted the heat-seeking missiles.
  Hyponyms: Bengal light, fusee, parachute flare, Very light
2. (oil industry) A flame produced by a burn-off of waste gas (flare gas) from a flare tower (or flare stack), typically at an oil refinery.
(figuratively) A sudden eruption or outbreak; a flare-up.
A widening of an object with an otherwise roughly constant width.
During assembly of a flare tube fitting, a flare nut is used to secure the flared tubing’s tapered end to the also tapered fitting, producing a pressure-resistant, leak-tight seal.
That's a genuine early 70's flare on those pants.
1. (nautical) The increase in width of most ship hulls with increasing height above the waterline.
  Antonyms: tumblehome
(in plural) Bell-bottom trousers.
(aviation) The transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.
The captain executed the flare perfectly, and we lightly touched down.
(baseball) A low fly ball that is hit in the region between the infielders and the outfielders.
Synonyms: blooper, Texas leaguer
Jones hits a little flare to left that falls for a single.
(American football) A route run by the running back, releasing toward the sideline and then slightly arcing upfield looking for a short pass.
(photography) Short for lens flare.
An inflammation such as of tendons (tendonitis) or joints (osteoarthritis).
Synonyms: flare-up
A breakdance move of someone helicoptering his torso on alternating arms.

Translations

French: fusée lumineuse
German: Fackel, Leuchtfackel, Bengalo, Leuchtsignal, Leuchtkugel, Leuchtzeichen
Italian: bagliore
Portuguese: sinalizador
Russian: вспы́шка

Translations

French: feu de Bengale, feu de bengale
German: bengalisches Feuer, Leuchtkugel, Leuchtgeschoß, Bengalo
Russian: фальшфе́йер
Spanish: bengala

Translations

German: Gasfackel

Translations

German: Stulp, Rand, Bördelrand, Flansch, Aufbördelung, Trichterrand

Translations

German: Schlag, Aufweitung
Russian: клёш

Translations

French: arrondi
German: Abfangen

Verb

flare (flares, present participle flaring; simple past and past participle flared)

(transitive) To cause to burn; in particular, to burn off excess gas.
(transitive) To cause inflammation; to inflame.
(ambitransitive) To open outward in shape.
The cat flared its nostrils while sniffing at the air. (transitive)
The cat’s nostrils flared when it sniffed at the air. (intransitive)
The building flared from the third through the seventh floors to occupy the airspace over the entrance plaza. (intransitive)
The sides of a bowl flare. (intransitive)
(ambitransitive, aviation) To (operate an aircraft to) transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.
(intransitive) To blaze brightly.
The blast furnace flared in the night.
- 1802, Joanna Baillie, “Ethwald: A Tragedy, in Five Acts. Part Second.”, in A Series of Plays: In which It is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC ↗, Act V, scene v, page 351 ↗:
  Thou rear'st thy stately neck, / And, while I list, thou flarest in men's eyes / A gorgeous queen; […]
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:
  On he went a few paces and touched a second, then a third, and a fourth, till at last we were surrounded on all three sides by a great ring of bodies flaring furiously, the material with which they were preserved having rendered them so inflammable that the flames would literally spout out of the ears and mouth in tongues of fire a foot or more in length.
(intransitive) To shine out with a sudden and unsteady light; to emit a dazzling or painfully bright light.
The candle flared in a sudden draught.
(intransitive, figuratively) To shine out with gaudy colours; to be offensively bright or showy.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, […] [T]he Merrie Wiues of Windsor. […] (First Quarto), London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for Arthur Ihonson, […], published 1602, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene vi]:
  [B]y a robe of white, the which ſhe weares, / With ribones pendant flaring bout her head, / I ſhalbe ſure to know her, […]
(intransitive, figuratively) To suddenly happen or intensify.
Synonyms: flare up
(intransitive, figuratively) To suddenly erupt in anger.
Synonyms: flare up
(intransitive, obsolete) To be exposed to too much light.
- a. 1722 (date written), Matthew Prior, “Hans Carvel”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC ↗, page 124 ↗:
  […] I [Satan] cannot ſtay / Flaring in ſun-ſhine all the day: / For, entre nous, we helliſh ſprites, / Love more the freſco of the nights; […]