blazing

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
blaze1

▶noun

• 1 a very large or fiercely burning fire.

• 2 a very bright light or display of colour.

  ■ a conspicuous display or outburst of something: they broke up in a blaze of publicity.

• 3 (blazes) informal used as a euphemism for ‘hell’.

▶verb

• 1 burn or shine fiercely or brightly.

• 2 shoot repeatedly or indiscriminately.

– phrases
like blazes informal very fast or forcefully.

– derivatives
blazing adjective,
blazingly adverb.

– origin OE blæse ‘torch, bright fire’, of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
blaze2

▶noun

• 1 a white stripe down the face of a horse or other animal.

• 2 a cut made on a tree to mark a route.

▶verb (blaze a trail) mark out a path or route.

■ be the first to do something; pioneer.

– origin C17: ult. of Gmc origin; rel. to blaze1, and prob. to blemish.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
blaze3

▶verb present (news) in a prominent or sensational manner.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘blow out on a trumpet’): from Mid. Low Ger. or MDu. blāzen ‘to blow’; rel. to blow1.