burn (someone or something) to a cinder
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 cinder. A: "What the heck is that?" B: "Well, it was meatloaf, before I burned it to a cinder." It's not like you burned the roast to a cinder, 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 cinder. I hope you're wearing sunscreen. The sun is supposed to come out later, and it'll burn you to a cinder. I got burned to a cinder because I went to the pool and somehow didn't know notice that my sunscreen wasn't water-resistant.
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