a. Forms: see BURN v.1 [f. SUN sb. + burnt, burned, pa. pple. of BURN v.1 Cf. G. sonn(en)verbrannt.]
1. Discolored, tanned or superficially inflamed by exposure to sunshine; chiefly of the skin or complexion.
α. c. 1400. Plowman’s Tale, 18. Our hoste … saw this man was sunne y-brent.
c. 1530. Judic. Urines, II. ii. 11 b. Men of Ethyoppe, that are sonne breent.
a. 1500. Peebles to the Play, in Pop. Scot. Poems, 6. I dar not come yon mercat to, I am so ill sun-brynt.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 5. Thei that walke muche in the Sonne … are … for the moste part Sonne burnt.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Irene, Wks. (1711), 170. The sun-burnt nations of the south.
1676. Lond. Gaz., No. 1105/4. A short fat Man with a reddish face, his hair sun burnt. Ibid. (1705), No. 4155/4. A black Gelding…, with a short whisk Tail, and Sun-burnt upon it.
1818. Byron, Beppo, xxvi. He was a man as dusky as a Spaniard, Sunburnt with travel.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, xxxi. His swarthy and sunburnt hair.
1858. Longf., M. Standish, IX. 50. Great was the people’s amazement,… Thus to behold once more the sunburnt face of their Captain.
β. c. 1500[?]. How the Plowman lerned his Pater-Noster, 130, in Hazl., E. P. P. (1864), I. 214. The one [was] sonburned, another black as a pan.
1530. Palsgr., 429/1. I am sonne brunde with sonne. Ibid., 725/1. Howe you be sonne burned for one dayes rydynge.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., vi. (1906), 52. I would … have done him as much honour, as ever … the Sun-burnd Ægyptians their Æsculapius.
1813. Scott, Trierm., II. xxi. The sun-burn’d maid.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, i. A broad sunburned face.
† b. fig. Superficially learned. Obs. nonce-use.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., II. (Arb.), 111. So many seeming, and sonburnt ministers … whose learning is gotten in a sommer heat, and washed away, with a Christmas snow againe.
c. transf. Of a brown color, as if sunburnt.
1893. Lady, 10 Aug., 146/2. Sunburnt straw will be immensely popular for country wear.
1915. Truth, 25 Aug., 317/1. Pastry and cakes, which may be of a sunburned brown.
2. Scorched, parched or dried up by the heat of the sun, as land or vegetation; also fig.
α. c. 1585. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LXXVIII. xi. As thick as dust on sun-burnt field.
1597. Drayton, Mortimeriad, Ded. 2. Whilst they boast but of their sun-burnt brayns.
1631. Knevet, Rhodon & Iris, III. iii. F 3. On the sun-burnt brinke of warme Hydaspes.
a. 1658. Cleveland, Content, 80. Whither wilt thou bear My Sun-burnt hope to Loss?
a. 1721. Prior, Amaryllis, 29. On sun-burnt mountain-tops, and parched sands.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., Aug., 351. The rains … have given a fresh verdure to the sun-burnt grass.
1880. L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, 7. The sunburnt ways of the wilderness.
β. a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. ii. (1590), 249 b. The pleasantest fruites, that Sunburnd Autumne could deliuer.
1632. Rutherford, Lett., 9 March (1675), III. 164. In the same Garden … grow the Saints, God’s fair and beautiful Lillies, under wind and rain and all sun-burned.
3. Baked by the heat of the sun, as bricks: = SUN-BAKED 1.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 61. The Houses are of Sun-burnt bricks.
1686. Hedges, Diary, 14 April. I went to see a great Tower called Nimrod, built or Sun-burnt bricks.
1820. Belzoni, Egypt & Nubia, III. 385. A high wall of sun-burnt bricks.
1862. Beveridge, Hist. India, III. VII. vi. 184. A thick and lofty wall of sun-burned clay.
Hence Sunburntress rare.
1692. O. Walker, Grk. & Rom. Hist., 233. C. Pescennius Niger Justus … was called Niger, because of the Sun-burntness of his Neck and Face.
