Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a euph. for bloody adj.; occas. as adv.

1837		C. Dance Bengal Tiger 7: It’s a burning shame, I say.
1843		W.L. Rede Our Village I i: I do say that my lord’s marrying that proud Frenchified madam [...] was a burning shame.
1864		G.A. Sala Quite Alone III 131: It’s a burning shame, and so it is.
1876		Besant & Rice Golden Butterfly II 208: I call this a burning shame.
1892		F.P. Dunne in Schaaf Mr Dooley’s Chicago (1977) 45: It’s a burnin’ shame.
1958		J. Arden Live Like Pigs Act II: You living with their daddy till you die? Burning likely your living with him, hey?
1967		K. Amis letter 4 Nov. in Leader (2000) 20: Another thing that [...] Mr Ardagh has done is put a burning queer in the room next to mine.

2. (orig. US black) a general term of approval: wonderful, excellent.

1964

R.S. Gold Jazz Lex. xxii: Currently, in response to an inspired musical performance, a jazz devotee draws from a large storehouse of terms: crazy, nutty, insane, swinging, groovy, cooking, wailing, burning, smoking, boss, something else, out of sight, etc.