burn n.1
1. in fig. uses, one ‘gets one’s fingers burnt’.
(a) (US) a joke, a prank.
 | Captain Company K 86: A general guffaw burst out at this ‘burn’ on Caleb [HDAS]. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Ringolevio 138: How’s that for a fuckin’ burn, ha? | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Vinnie Got Blown Away 58: Had the van clean five minutes, everything in a heap out the back. Then cleaned each other and Marigold and the caretaker and most the front the school. It was a burn. |
(b) (orig. US) a fraud, a confidence trick; thus the sale of bad or fake drugs.
| Scene (1996) 60: He cons someone out of some money for stuff, and he calls that a burn. | |
| We are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against 31: They’re not a burn. [Ibid.] 83: He pulled an $11,000 burn. | |
| (con. 1940s–60s) ‘The Law of Retribution’’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 175: There would be no way of covering up and my act would be considered an out-and-out burn. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Burn. A drug transaction where one party cheats on the arrangement. | |
| Another Day in Paradise 108: I realized that no burn was gonna go down. | |
| Class Act [ebook] A good burn, he’d explained [...] was a fast burn. | |
| Squeeze Me 111: [of demanding money for information] ‘This is a total burn’. |
(c) (US) a major disappointment.
| Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 91: If I’m the right one, the wrong ones must have been real burns. | |
| On the Yard (2002) 208: Red was finding the freak book a burn, too wholesome for authentic L and L. |
(d) (US police/und.) the exposure of an undercover officer or agent, thus take a burn, to siffer such exposure.
| Report to the Commissioner 100: The ultimate disaster is discovery—in undercover language, ‘a burn’ When junkies and pushers on a particular set learn or suspect an agent’s identity, he has ‘taken a burn’. | |
| Target Blue 472: ‘The higher up the ladder you go, the easier the burn,’ [Undercover] Detective Conlon said. ‘Because the higher up you go, the fewer people this guy sells to. So it’s easier for him to narrow it down to you’. |
(e) a police operation which has been compromised.
| (con. 1972) Circle of Six 83: If we were seen by anyone, the operation was a burn. |
(f) (W.I.) infidelity (usu. by a woman).
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Official Dancehall Dict. 7: Bun [...] 2. act of infidelity (usually of a woman, without her partner’s knowledge): u. she a gi’ ’im bun. |
(g) (US campus) an embarrassing or humiliating situation.
| Don’t Look Back 184: [F]or Satch [...] the best was the burn that he laid on the San Juan Senadores in the playoff final. | |
| ‘Sweet, Tight and Hella Stupid’ in S.F. University High School Update Mar.–Apr. 2: burn – [...] a socially degrading situation. |
2. (US) a love-bite [resemblance to a burn scar].
| Guardian Rev. 9 July 6: A kiss which gave her beard burn. |
3. tobacco; a smoke, a cigarette; thus (Aus.) twist a burn v., to roll a cigarette.
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. (2nd edn) 17: Burn, a cigarette. ‘To twist a burn’, to roll a cigarette. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Quare Fellow (1960) Act I: Have a quiet burn there before the screw comes round. | |
| (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 229: Let’s go in the cawsy for a burn. | |
| Bang To Rights 23: This mug goes and borrows some more snout [...] because he hasn’t got a burn. | |
| Saved Scene vii: Reckon there’s time for a quick burn? | |
| ‘Prison Lang.’ in Michaels & Ricks (1980) 525: Tobacco [...] is referred to as a burn or as snout or weed. | |
| The Joy (2015) [ebook] They collected two wheelbarrows full of the stuff [i.e. excrement]. All for a bit of burn. | |
| Inside 14: ‘What’s burn?’ ‘Burn — tobacco.’. | |
| ‘Live Corn’ 🎵 I rolled a burn while I thought about my case. |
4. (US) a permanent wave hairstyle, which is ‘burned’ into the hair.
| Corner Boy 146: Jake could get a good look at the glossy waves piled up pompadour fashion. [...] ‘Where you get a burn like that?’. |
5. (US Und.) execution in the electric chair [burn v. (5c)].
| Rumble on the Docks (1955) 171: Would he hold up? Or would he start singing, waiting for the last burn in death row? |
6. (US black/gang) a gun.
| ‘Some Get Wasted’ in Clarke Harlem, USA (1971) 356: Hezzy saw the bulge at his pocket. The cat was packing his burn! |
7. a sense of intoxication that results from alcohol or drugs.
| Diet of Treacle (2008) 121: All these people smoking [...] and with the wine you’ve been drinking, you just might get an edge on. A little burn. | |
| Glorious Heresies 300: [F]reewheeling on the vodka burn and the echoes of their last meeting. |
8. the sense of elation that follows an injection or inhalation of narcotics.
| Narcotics and Narcotic Addiction (4th edn). | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Bobby March Will Live Forever 242: Bobby [...] let the coke run down his throat. Hit him immediately, the familiar burn, the rush of blood. Stuff was good. |
9. (US black) venereal disease.
| ‘Buhloone Mindstate’ 🎵 She gave me burn / I had to go see the doctor. |
10. (drugs) cannabis.
| The Joy (2015) [ebook] We used to share everything: burn, smack, papers. |
11. importance, relevance, pertinence.
| Source Oct. 84: The term gets more burn when referring to local sports or graffiti. | |
| ‘Quit Hatin’ The South’ 🎵 Them muthafuckas aggravated ’cause we gettin some burn. |
12. (US) a murder.
| Nick’s Trip 41: ‘[H]e didn’t want to wound Henry, he wanted him dead. It could have been a drug deal gone bad. Or it was a crime of passion. You know, a homo burn’. | |
| (con. 1972) What It Was 190: The brazen nature of the Soul House burn had put Harp over the edge. |
In phrases
to be angry (with).
| Vanity Row 153: ‘First I had a row with Ruth. She was standing right beside me and heard every word that was said. Oh, did she do a burn!’. | |
| letter 20 Mar. in Selected Letters (2014) 239: If Adele had come to me doing a burn because Gloria had said this or that unforgiveable thing to her, I would have told her to stick it up her ass. | |
| Castro Assassinated (2009) 156: When you had a burn on for some son–of–a–bitch who had been giving you a hard time, well, you belted him one. |
1. to kill.
| ‘Ten Carats of Lead’ in Black Mask Stories (2010) 230/1: The skirt was with the two who put the burn on MacReady. They just fixed her up with a slug, too. |
2. to pressurize.
| Cry Tough! 143: Later that night they returned to the poolroom and Larry put the burn on Flagg for the thirty bucks. |
3. to stare at aggressively.
| Easyriders Oct. 28: All he does is put ‘the burn’ on ya (the look you see above) and that settles [HDAS]. |
to become angry.
| No Cover Charge: a Backward Look at the Night Clubs 202: At any rate, Shimmy one night took a burn at the hat check girl in a place called the Royal Box. |