The Collaborative International Dictionary
Blaze \Blaze\ (bl[=a]z), n. [OE. blase, AS. bl[ae]se, blase; akin to OHG. blass whitish, G. blass pale, MHG. blas torch, Icel. blys torch; perh. fr. the same root as E. blast. Cf. Blast, Blush, Blink.]
A stream of gas or vapor emitting light and heat in the process of combustion; a bright flame. ``To heaven the blaze uprolled.''
--Croly.-
Intense, direct light accompanied with heat; as, to seek shelter from the blaze of the sun.
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon!
--Milton. -
A bursting out, or active display of any quality; an outburst; a brilliant display. ``Fierce blaze of riot.'' ``His blaze of wrath.''
--Shak.For what is glory but the blaze of fame?
--Milton. [Cf. D. bles; akin to E. blaze light.] A white spot on the forehead of a horse.
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A spot made on trees by chipping off a piece of the bark, usually as a surveyor's mark.
Three blazes in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicating a legislative road, the single blaze a settlement or neighborhood road.
--Carlton.In a blaze, on fire; burning with a flame; filled with, giving, or reflecting light; excited or exasperated.
Like blazes, furiously; rapidly. [Low] ``The horses did along like blazes tear.''
--Poem in Essex dialect.Note: In low language in the U. S., blazes is frequently used of something extreme or excessive, especially of something very bad; as, blue as blazes.
--Neal.Syn: Blaze, Flame.
Usage: A blaze and a flame are both produced by burning gas. In blaze the idea of light rapidly evolved is prominent, with or without heat; as, the blaze of the sun or of a meteor. Flame includes a stronger notion of heat; as, he perished in the flames.
Usage examples of "like blazes".
I wasn't very far behind him, an' by the time they woke up to what was going on he was through an' riding like blazes.
I was into that wagon in a twinkling, bawling to the driver to go like blazes, and blasting away over the tailboard with an Adams six-shooter in each fist.
I suppose it was blind instinct that made me follow her, now that my own chance of a clear getaway had been scuppered by whatever had gone amiss in the tavern -- the stupid bitch could have held them longer than two seconds, you'd have thought -- and there was nothing to do but shift like blazes.
Renny is an accomplished engineer, and he can fight like blazes with his great fists.
The crease across his back burned like blazes, and pain shot through his upper torso every time he moved.
The only part I took in the fight, though, was when a prau broke free from the pirate anchorage and made off upriver, sweeps going like blazes and war-gong thundering.
There was a bungalow burning like blazes a hundred yards ahead, and half a dozen sepoys standing by its fence, cursing and occasionally firing a shot into it.
Be ready to start the second you see me coming out of the front door, and drive like blazes for the air-port.
Remember the part with poor old Ichabod riding like blazes for the covered bridge and safety?
The kind that went clear down inside and hurt like blazes, like a guy sticking his mitt in your stomach.