burn off

burn off (third-person singular simple present burns off, present participle burning off, simple past and past participle burned off or burnt off)

1. (intransitive) To dissipate as the result of heat.

   Near-synonyms: burn away, burn up

   • 2005, Lark Gould, Los Angeles Off the Beaten Path®, page xix:

     The weather by the beach can be considerably cooler—ten degrees or more— and usually starts with fog and haze that burn off by late morning.

2. (transitive) To cause to dissipate by applying heat.

   Near-synonyms: burn away, burn up

   • 2013, Wen Zhu, The Matchmaker, the Apprentice, and the Football Fan:

     When he tried to light the cigarette in his mouth, he discovered he was about to burn off the filter and a fair bit of his mouth.

3. (transitive, intransitive, oil) To dispose of (unusable explosive natural gas from an oil well) by burning it as it emerges from the well.

   Near-synonyms: burn away, burn up

4. (intransitive, rail transport, of an axle bearing) To fail due to overheating.

   Near-synonym: burn up

5. (transitive, intransitive, television) To fill (low-value air time) with programming not suitable for its original purpose.
6. (transitive) To expend energy resulting from metabolizing food.

   Near-synonyms: burn away, burn up

   • 2010, Richard Littlejohn, Littlejohn's House of Fun: Thirteen Years of (Labour) Madness, page 78:

     It's to encourage boys to burn off excess energy.

   • 2010, Efua Baker, 15 Minute Calorie Burn Workout, page 11:

     To get rid of just 0.5kg (1lb) of excess fat you must burn off around 3500 calories.

   • 2015, James Egan, Over 100 Ways to Stop Sabotaging Your Life, page 13:

     But you can burn off calories more ways than you know. Do you know you burn off a calorie by just standing still every two minutes?

7. (transitive) To use up a resource in a nonproductive manner.

   Near-synonym: burn through

   • 2019, David Gerrold, Bouncing Off the Moon:

     We burn off speed. We have come around very fast. Must burn off more speed.

   • 2022, James R. Welke, The International Football League:

     “I want to burn off some of the clock before going into the end zone.

8. (rugby) Cause to waste energy.
   • 2019 October 19, Robert Kitson, “England into World Cup semi-finals after bruising victory over Australia”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media:

     Slick use of the resulting turnover ball gave Koroibete the space to burn off Daly, only the third try England have so far conceded in this tournament.

9. (transitive) To speed past (someone), such as in a race, especially when first starting off.

   The other competitors were way behind, having been burned off at the starting line.

• (dispose of unusable natural gas): flare

• burnoff (noun)

• burn out