burn up

[notletrest]

Please see Curt Jugg's post and my addendum to his post. With all due respect to the authors of the Chinese book, in AmE you would seldom/never hear that a person "fires up". Rather, "gets fired up" is a more common expression in AmE. And perhaps to make it more confusing, to get fired up has yet another more common meaning in AmE. It means to become energetic or enthusiastic. For example, "Everyone is fired up about the new advertising campaign." OR "The coach told his team to get fired up for the big game next week."

I understand you ,thanks!

" 2). " fire ,v.i. ... fire up : (a) to start a fire in a furnace,stove, etc; (b) to become irritated or angry," OR (c) to become excited or enthusiastic The above is quoted from a Webster's Dictionary. About (a,b) ,I would like you to give me each an example, in which fire should be an intransitive verb. If you couldn't do, can it indicate the dictionary is wrong here? He fired up (phrasal verb as a verb) the furnace./He got fired up about the speech (phrasal verb as an adjective). "

In your first example He fired up (phrasal verb as a verb) the furnace./, the fire up as a verb is a transtive verb.obviously. In your second one "fired up" is not an intransitive verb,either. How to understand its above "fire v.i. ",is my another problem.
Thank you very much!

[notletrest]

You may be interested to know that the Oxford English Dictionary gives two quotations from the 19th century illustrating the use of "fire up" as an intransitive verb:

If I were to hear any body speak slightingly of you, I should fire up in a moment. (Jane Austen)

and

She fired up at the arrogance of the squire. (W Irving)

I have not come across this usage in more modern (British) English but I don't know about American usage.

I enjoy your 3 precious examples about to fire up. I am eager to know how you get them,online or from your own OED.Could you tell me how online I can find them?
As a Chinese saying goes ,it is better to teach a man some fishing than to give him some fish. Thank you very much!

[BobK]

You may be interested to know that the Oxford English Dictionary gives two quotations from the 19th century illustrating the use of "fire up" as an intransitive verb:

If I were to hear any body speak slightingly of you, I should fire up in a moment. (Jane Austen)

and

She fired up at the arrogance of the squire. (W Irving)

I have not come across this usage in more modern (British) English but I don't know about American usage.

In both those cases someone blushed. The reason for the blushing may have involved anger.

Incidentally, Br Eng - in my experience - doesn't use 'burn up' in the sense of get angry; though a situation can 'flare up'. On the subject of burning, we do have the metaphor 'incandescent' (meaning 'very angry'/'livid'), and also 'burning with rage'.

b

[Kathleen Shuster]

He felt burned by my rudeness.

[5jj]

He felt burned by my rudeness.

That does not sound natural to me.

[Hedwig]

I enjoy your 3 precious examples about to fire up. I am eager to know how you get them,online or from your own OED.Could you tell me how online I can find them?
As a Chinese saying goes ,it is better to teach a man some fishing than to give him some fish. Thank you very much!

I'm afraid you cannot consult the OED online unless you subscribe for a fee. There's a free trial period, though. www.oed.com
There's the Oxford Advanced Learner's for free at www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com . And if you google up 'dictionary' you'll find a great many good dictionaries.

[britintheUS]

To "burn up" with anger is what first comes to mind. It's as if someone is so mad that they are heated like flames :)

In the southern states of the US, it is also used to say that someone is hot, temperature wise, or a room is hot.

"It's so hot in here, I'm about to burn up"