burn out
1. To cease burning (as of something that is on fire). Get the birthday girl in here before the candles on her cake burn out! At this point, the firefighters are just going to let the fire burn out. The kids were totally mesmerized watching the sparklers burn out.
2. To stop working properly, often through overheating. In this usage, a reflexive pronoun can be used between "burn" and "out." Unfortunately, I think the motor in your lawn mower has burned out. We have to repair the engine before it burns itself out. I was going to make a smoothie, but the blender's not working. I hope the motor didn't burn out.
3. To hollow out by fire, as of a building. The fire completely ravaged and burned out our beloved home. I can't believe the blaze burned out all six of these old row homes. It was eerie, almost post-apocalyptic, to walk by the shop after it had burned out.
4. To force someone to leave a place by setting it on fire. During their attack, the troops burned out everyone in the town. A: "The fire seems very suspicious to me." B: "Do you think someone was trying to burn out the people in this building?" The people in those old row homes were burned out by an arsonist.
5. To overwork or exhaust someone or oneself, especially to the point of no longer being able to maintain a particular level of performance or dedication. In this usage, a reflexive pronoun is often used between "burn" and "out." If you keep staying up so late working on this report, you're going to burn yourself out. Don't burn out your interns by making them come in every day. I'm not surprised she burned herself out—she was doing schoolwork nearly every minute of the day.
burned out
1. Overworked or exhausted, especially to the point of no longer being able to maintain a particular level of performance or dedication. If you keep working nights and weekends, you're going to get burned out. She's probably burned out after studying all week. If you're so burned out, have you considered working at a different company?
2. slang Physically damaged by drug use. Typically used to describe an IV drug user's veins. I used to be an addict, honey, so my veins are all burned out these days. A: "You can't draw the patient's blood?" B: "No, his veins are all burned out. What do I do?" I knew my veins were all burned out, and I still kept using—that's the power of addiction.
3. slang Negatively impacted by drug use or addiction. You can't just dismiss these burned out students when they clearly need help and guidance. Joel was totally burned out, but ever since rehab, he's been a completely different person. Is Ellie taking something? She seems really burned out, and you can barely have a conversation with her.
4. slang Tolerant of a certain drug and thus unable to feel its effects anymore. I'm burned out on that stuff, man—it just does nothing for me anymore. I was shocked to see how much he took. He's really burned out on it, huh? You're burned out on it, so you need to take more and more and more. That's exactly what the dealers want, man.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.