burn off
Britishverb
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to clear (land) of vegetation by burning
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to get rid of (unwanted gas at an oil well, etc) by burning
noun
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Dissipate by heat, as in The sun will soon burn off the morning fog .
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Clear land by burning vegetation, as in They've decided to burn off part of the field to prepare it for another planting . This practice has long been common in many parts of the world, but the precise term dates only from the first half of the 1800s.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The months of November to March mark peak fire season in the region as farmers burn off fields before new seeds are sown.
From BBC
The rising sun was quickly burning off the fog, and if Clare squinted his one good eye, the mounds of trash almost looked like the rolling hills of a multicolored countryside.
From Literature
Possibly because my nerve endings had already burned off.
From Literature
Venezuela’s oil fields are heavily emitting in part because they contain large quantities of gas that must be burned off, or flared, because the facilities don’t exist to bring it to market.
“You want to melt your sneakers and possibly burn off your feet stepping on the wrong pile of ash?”
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
