burn (someone or something) to a crisp

burn (someone or something) to a crisp

1. To burn something, typically when cooking it, to the extent that it is completely charred and blackened. I forgot about the bread I'd put in the oven and burned it to a crisp. A: "What the heck is that?" B: "Well, it was meatloaf, before I burned it to a crisp." It's not like you burned the roast to a crisp, so we can just scrape off those blackened bits and eat the rest of it.

2. To burn someone severely (typically referring to sunburn). Often used in passive constructions. If you lay on the beach all day without any sunscreen, you'll get burned to a crisp. I hope you're wearing sunscreen. The sun is supposed to come out later, and it'll burn you to a crisp. I got burned to a crisp because I went to the pool and somehow didn't know notice that my sunscreen wasn't water-resistant.

See also: burn, crisp, to

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

burn something to a crisp

to burn something totally or very badly. The cook burned the meat to a crisp.

See also: burn, crisp, to

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

burn something to a ˈcinder/ˈcrisp

cook something for too long or with too much heat, so that it becomes badly burnt: Alan left the potatoes for so long that they were burnt to a crisp.

See also: burn, cinder, crisp, something, to

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