burning glass
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of burning glass
First recorded in 1560–70
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.
He and I know to move around them by sheer memory; the burning glass promises to singe the skin if touched.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 17, 2018
Many historians, in fact, have dismissed the story of the burning glass as a myth.
From Time Magazine Archive
The film begins with a helicoptic view, swooping over the dome of St. Peter's, then briefly darts away to Greece to catch the sun's rays igniting the traditional torch through a burning glass at Olympia.
From Time Magazine Archive
Secondly, was his 'into battle' period, when his superb rhetoric and unflinching courage focused like a burning glass the latent will to win of heroic, freedom-loving men the world over, when all seemed lost.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was like a great burning glass, concentrating the rays of the sun upon a single spot; he burned a hole wherever he went.
From How to Succeed or, Stepping-Stones to Fame and Fortune by Marden, Orison Swett
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.
