Forms: 3 blas-ie(n, 4–5 blas-en, 5 -yn, 4–6 blase, 5–7 blaise, -ze, 6– blaze; Sc. 5–6 blese, 6–7 bleise, 8– bleeze. Pa. t. and pple. blazed. [f. BLAZE sb.1: no corresp. vb. in OE., or in any other Teut. lang.]
1. intr. To burn with a bright fervent flame. Often with away, forth, out. To blaze up: to burst or flash into a blaze.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 296. Al þet hus blasie uorð er me lest wene.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XX. 185. A kyx oþer a candele Þat cauht haþ fuyr, and blaseþ.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 258. The sparke … blaseth out on every side.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. iv. 30. The altar blesand of hayt fyre.
1570. Levins, Manip., 36. Blase, efflammare.
1718. Pope, Iliad, II. 369. We raised Our verdant altars, and the victims blazed.
1790. Burns, Tam O’Shant. Fast by an ingle bleezing finely.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, II. xx. When that spark blazed forth to flame.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 16. 106. In one of these [clefts] a pine-fire was soon blazing briskly.
b. transf. Said of the place lighted by the blaze.
1876. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 6 (1882), 403. The streets of London blazed with bonfires.
2. trans. To cause to blaze, to give to the flames. rare. To blaze up: to set a-blaze.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), III. 745. They be blasyd both body and hals.
c. 1525. Skelton, Replyc., 294. Doutlesse ye shall be blased And be brent at a stake.
1865. Sat. Rev., 16 Dec., 754. If some new Guy Faux were to succeed in blazing up the Houses of Lords and Commons.
3. intr. To burn with the fervor of devotion, excitement or passion: said of persons and their feelings. To blaze up: to ‘fire up’ in wrath.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 426. Luue is Jesu Cristes fur þet he wule þet blasie in vre heorte.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XX. 188. Til þe holy gost by-gynne to glowen and blase.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. iv. 71. I need not adde more fuell to your fire, For well I wot, ye blaze to burne them out.
1841. D’Israeli, Amen. Lit. (1867), 306. His anger too easily blazed forth.
1878. Seeley, Stein, III. 528. Stein … blazed up, and there was an exchange of hot words.
4. To blaze out (trans.): to cause to flare away, to exhaust in a blaze of passion or excess (arch.); (intr.) to go out with a flare, subside from its blaze.
1779. Johnson, Rochester, L. P. (1816), 179. He … blazed out his youth and his health in lavish voluptuousness.
1824. Dibdin, Libr. Comp., 718. He blazed out his life.
1884. L’pool Daily Post, 27 June, 5/5. The temporary excitement of the questions had blazed out, and members were leaving the House.
5. intr. To shine like flame or fire; to shine brightly, glitter, be resplendent. Also with forth.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XXI. 243. Tho þis barn was ybore þer blased a sterre.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. iv. (1495), 553. It is kyndly that shynynge of metall blase the more yf they be shynyd wyth other lyght.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 194. Eyes That sparkling blaz’d.
1718. Pope, Iliad, II. 527. The dreadful aegis … Blazed on her arm.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. ix. But Half-men, in whom that divine handwriting has never blazed forth.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, IX. i. 371. Robed in scarlet that literally blazed with gold.
1877. A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, xxi. 608. The sun blazing over head.
b. trans. with cognate object.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 65. The Father … on the Son Blaz’d forth unclouded Deitie.
1697. Congreve, Mourn. Bride, I. iii. All conspired to blaze promiscuous light.
6. intr. To shine or be conspicuous with brilliancy of character, splendor of position or talents, grandeur, renown. Also with out.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. I. 5. Blaseþ and schineþ clerliche þe riȝt rule of þewes.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, II. xxx. (1840), 89. The less his fame blazed, the more his devotion burned.
1756. Burke, Subl. & B., Wks. I. 170. In this description … the terrible and sublime blaze out together.
1859. Helps, Friends in C., Ser. II. I. i. 20. To blaze out into a successful marriage.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., I. III. iv. 158. Cardinal Albert Kur-Mainz … blazes widely abroad, in the busy reign of Karl V.
† 7. trans. ? To dazzle or daze with light; fig. to blind. Obs.
c. 1450. Henryson, Moral Fables, 34. The fauour of thy face, For thy defence is foule and disfigurate, Brought to the light, blased, blunt and blate.
1570. Piththy Note Papists (Collier), 15. As thogh Ye would the People blase, And make them think I did not wel: this said he without maze.
8. intr. To blaze away: to fire continuously with guns or artillery; fig. to work at anything with enthusiastic vigor (colloq.). Cf. fire away.
1826. Sheridaniana, 331. Sheridan blazed away, right and left.
1843. Dickens, in Life, 141. I went at it again, and … blazed away till 9 last night.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., vii. 140, note. We crept up within thirty yards, and, kneeling down, blazed away at the lions.
