burn down
Idioms-
Completely consume by fire, burn to the ground, as in Their house burned down and they had nowhere to go . [Mid-1800s]
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Diminish for lack of fuel, as in The fire will soon burn down . [Late 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.
“There were only a thousand copies printed and then the publisher burned down. My auntie tells me that’s why they’re so special.”
From Literature
Bass said Thursday that she would welcome an executive order that would bring the insurance and banking industries together to help Angelenos whose houses burned down get more significant insurance payouts and longer-term mortgages.
From Los Angeles Times
The truth is Michael’s restaurant was a 5-star experience in Nobles County, Minn., and when the restaurant burned down, wherever Larry went, the rings went with him, and the masses found him.
From Salon
“Oh. Uh, yeah. There used to be a lighthouse here until it burned down in the early nineteen hundreds. And now it’s a motel. Go figure.”
From Literature
Her house had burned down and her husband was missing.
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.
