ablaze

Etymology

It is formed from English a- (“on”) + blaze,^[2][3][4][5] like aback and abed.^[6] The OED compares the older phrase “on blaze” and the adverb aflame,^[2] and Hoad and Onions take it as formed after afire and aflame.^[7][8] Skeat and Weekley explain it as a reduction of “on blaze”,^[9][6] which Gower already used: "They setten all on blase".^[6][8] Middle English had “setten on blase”, to set on fire, and “ben on blase”, to be on fire, with the noun blase (“flame, blaze”),^[10] from Old English blæse (“torch, firebrand, bright flame”).^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

On fire, burning fiercely: before 1676, in J. Dunton's Dialogical Discourse.^[2][11] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century,^[4] while the Shorter Oxford, Hoad and Dictionary.com put it in the early 19th century.^[3][7][12]

Semantic evolution

The phrase to set ablaze, literal and figurative, is recorded from 1789.^[2] The figurative senses followed in the 19th century: highly excited or burning with emotion from 1819, in Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor,^[2] and brilliantly lit or brightly coloured, often ablaze with, from 1851, in Longfellow's Golden Legend.^[2] The expression all ablaze is frequent in the literal sense.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1676 – on fire, in flames.^[2][11]
• 1789 – to set ablaze.^[2]
• 1819 – figuratively, excited, charged with emotion.^[2]
• 1851 – brilliantly lit or coloured.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. On fire; burning: A spark set the dry grass ablaze.^[13][11][2]
2. Shining brightly with light or colour: The square was ablaze with lanterns.^[13][11][2]
3. Filled with strong feeling; excited or passionate.^[13][11][2]

Related words

• blaze
• aflame
• afire

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins