flare
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /flɛə̯/
ipa: /flɛɚ̯/
ipa: /fleː/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /fleə/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /fliə/
ipa: /fleɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /flɜː(ɹ)/
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
homophone: flair
homophone: fleer (cheer–chair merger)
homophone: fleur (fair–fur merger)
Forms: form: flares
Etymology: Origin unknown, first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“I burn”). Norwegian flara (“to blaze; to flaunt in gaudy attire”) has a similar meaning, but the English word predates it. Possibly related to Middle High German vlederen (“to flutter”), represented by modern German flattern.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Senses: glosses: A sudden bright light.
examples: text: solar flare
text: I was looking in the direction of the lightship off and on from the time we first sighted her. I could not be mistaken in such a matter as a flare-up light. By a flare-up light I mean a large bright light waved in the air, something like a torch dipped in resin and waved about. I am prepared to say that any person who has sworn that she shewed a flare-up light from the lightship while the Kanagawa Maru was passing has perjured himself.
ref: 1876 January 28, “Japanese Consulate General, Shanghai. Before E. Shinagawa, Esq., Consul-General. Jan. 22, 1876. Capt. Roper v. Mitsu Bishi Mail S.S. Co.”, in The Japan Mail. A Fortnightly Summary of Intelligence from Japan, […], volume VII, number 9, Yokohama: Printed and published for the proprietor by H. Collins, […
text: [T]he forward deck near the house was all saturated with spilt oil and there was a quantity of oakum lying about, some of which possibly had been used for flares or distress signals.
ref: 1913 December 13, “The Inquest Resumed. [Captain Froggatt’s Report.]”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette: The Weekly Edition of the North-China Daily News, volume CIX (New Series), number 2418, Shanghai: Printed and published for the proprietors, The North-China Daily News & Herald, Ltd., […], →OCLC, page 807, column 2:
text: In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 87–88:
text: We made a movie picture by the use of flares, the brilliant light startling the blacks, but their surprise quickly gave way to enthusiasm,—just another of the white bwana's magic powers.
ref: 1926, Edwin S. George, “African Nights”, in Cairo to Cape: Four Afoot through Africa, New York, N.Y.: The Knickerbocker Press, →OCLC, page 195:
text: The white light during M dwarf flares has long been known to exhibit the broadband shape of a T ≈ 10 000 K blackbody, and the white light in solar-flares is thought to arise primarily from hydrogen recombination. Yet, a current lack of broad-wavelength coverage solar flare spectra in the optical/near-UV region prohibits a direct comparison of the continuum properties to determine if they are indeed so different. New spectroscopic observations of a secondary flare during the decay of a megaflare on the dM4.5e star YZ CMi have revealed multiple components in the white-light continuum of stellar flares, including both a blackbody-like spectrum and a hydrogen-recombination spectrum.
ref: 2012 March, A. F. Kowalski, S. L. Hawley, J. A. Holtzmann, J. P. Wisniewski, E. J. Hilton, “The Multiple Continuum Components in the White-light Flare of 16 January 2009 on the dM4.5e Star YZ CMi”, in Solar Physics, volume 277, number 1, →DOI, page 21; republished in Yuhong Fan and George Fisher, editors, Solar Flare Magnetic Fields and Plasmas, New York, N.Y.; Dordrecht: Springer, 2012, →ISBN, abstract, page 21:
glosses: A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
examples: text: Flares were used to steer the traffic away from the accident.
text: The flares attracted the heat-seeking missiles.
text: Stowed away in the plane Jack had a signal pistol and several red and green cartridges, but until a search plane appeared the flares would be useless.
ref: 1946, Clayton Knight, The Quest of the Golden Condor, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC, page 262:
text: While he was putting on the snowplough, the Whites shot up a flare to see what was happening. It floated above us like a fizzing star at the end of a tiny white petal of a parachute. We threw ourselves down, in between the rails, in there with the dog shit.
ref: 2009, James Fleming, chapter 55, in Cold Blood, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2010, →ISBN, page 262:
glosses: A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
A type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light without an explosion, used to attract attention in an emergency, to illuminate an area, or as a decoy.
examples: text: Flare stacks are used in gas plants, petroleum refineries, and petrochemical plants to combust surplus hydrocarbons to produce combustion products that are neither toxic nor combustible. Flares frequently incorporate a liquid-gas separator at the base of the stack and steam assisted burner nozzles at the top of the stack to aid complete combustion.
ref: 2013, David Brennan, “Identification of Waste in Utility Systems”, in Sustainable Process Engineering: Concepts, Strategies, Evaluation, and Implementation, Singapore: Pan Stanford Publishing, →ISBN, part B (Strategies), section 6.8 (Flare Stacks), page 122:
glosses: A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
A flame produced by a burn-off of waste gas (flare gas) from a flare tower (or flare stack), typically at an oil refinery.
qualifier: oil industry
examples: text: Antiinflammatory corticosteroid creams and ointments are prescribed for inflamed or lichenified areas. These creams are more effective when applied to damp skin. The lowest potency that controls signs should be used, and topical steroids are usually reserved for treatment of episodic flares.
ref: 2013, Susan Rowen James, Kristine Ann Nelson, Jean Weiler Ashwill, “The Child with Major Alterations in Tissue Integrity”, in Nursing Care of Children: Principle & Practice, 4th edition, St. Louis: Elsevier Saunders, →ISBN, unit IV (Caring for Children with Health Problems), page 631, column 2:
glosses: A sudden eruption or outbreak; a flare-up.
examples: text: During assembly of a flare tube fitting, a flare nut is used to secure the flared tubing’s tapered end to the also tapered fitting, producing a pressure-resistant, leak-tight seal.
text: That's a genuine early 70's flare on those pants.
text: That silhouette which is at present under consideration, the much-talked-of "barrel," appears in a Bulloz suit of rough white woolen material stitched with blue cotton thread; both on the skirt and coat the flare is somewhat lower than is usual with flares.
ref: 1917 February 15, “The New York Guide to Fashion’s Course”, in Vogue, volume 49, number 4, New York, N.Y.: The Vogue Company, →OCLC, page 45:
text: The flare on the inside of the shoe resists ankle pronation; […]
ref: 2003, Timothy D[avid] Noakes, Lore of Running, 4th edition, Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, →ISBN, page 270:
glosses: A widening of an object with an otherwise roughly constant width.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A widening of an object with an otherwise roughly constant width.
The increase in width of most ship hulls with increasing height above the waterline.
antonyms: tumblehome
examples: text: In the early 1970's, a giddy epoch in men's fashion, when denim flares and platform oxfords were the outer edge of style, Giorgio Armani made a suit that stretched. Imbued with spandex, the elastic fiber that gives a fabric extra bounce, the suit was one of the first in a long line of innovations that would eventually make Armani as familiar a brand as Kleenex.
ref: 1991 September 15, Ruth La Ferla, “Next weave”, in The New York Times Magazine, archived from the original on 20 Aug 2018:
text: As a teenager I hitch-hiked around free rock concerts, wearing flowered shirts and denim flares – jeans that were worn so much, in such rough conditions, and with so little attention to washing and care that after a while they became naturally abraded and frayed in just the manner that is simulated by commerce today.
ref: 2012, Daniel Miller, “Why Denim?”, in Consumption and Its Consequences, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; Malden, Mass.: Polity Press, →ISBN, page 94:
glosses: Bell-bottom trousers.
examples: text: The captain executed the flare perfectly, and we lightly touched down.
text: In normal operations, the rate of descent (or sink rate) will be approximately constant as the airplane approaches the runway. The objective of the flare is to reduce the vertical speed to an acceptably low value at the time when contact is made with the ground. […] Typically, the airplane will slow down a little in the flare and the touchdown speed will be about 3 to 5 kt less than the speed at the screen height[…].
ref: 2018, Trevor M. Young, “Approach and Landing”, in Performance of the Jet Transport Airplane: Analysis Methods, Flight Operations, and Regulations, Hoboken, N.J.; Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, section 11.2.2 (Landing Flare), page 285:
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.
examples: text: Jones hits a little flare to left that falls for a single.
text: An observant base runner checks the outfield defense and easily goes from first to third when the batter hits a flare to right field. A base runner who does not observe the depth of the outfield must turn to watch the ball, see it drop, and then run. He probably doesn't make it to third base.
ref: 2008, Mark Gola, “Character”, in Baseball’s Sixth Tool: Playing the Mental Game to Get the Competitive Edge, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 7:
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
synonyms: blooper
Texas leaguer
glosses: A low fly ball that is hit in the region between the infielders and the outfielders.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A route run by the running back, releasing toward the sideline and then slightly arcing upfield looking for a short pass.
examples: text: The defect in question is the flare which frequently arises from the use of compound lenses when there is a very bright object in front, resulting in a ghost-like image of that object being thrown upon the plate. If the image of the object thus duplicated be in focus we designate it a "ghost;" if out of focus we call it "flare."
ref: 1874 October 23, “On Certain Defects in Combination Landscape Lenses”, in The British Journal of Photography, volume XXI, number 755, London: Henry Greenwood, […], →OCLC, page 515, column 1:
topics: arts
hobbies
lifestyle
photography
glosses: Ellipsis of lens flare.
synonyms: flare-up
glosses: An inflammation such as of tendons (tendonitis) or joints (osteoarthritis).
glosses: A breakdance move of someone helicoptering his torso on alternating arms.
Hyponyms: lens flare
matchflare
megaflare
microflare
nanoflare
parachute flare
solar flare
superflare
Derived terms: airflare
autoflare
earflare
flare angel
flareback
flare gun
flareless
flare nut
flare nut wrench
flare path
flarepath
flare stack
flare tower
flary
hyperflare
outflare
postflare
preflare
tripflare
trip flare
unflare
upflare