| 释义 |
conflagration|kɒnfləˈgreɪʃən|
[ad. L. conflagrātiōn-em, n. of action f. conflagrāre: see prec. Cf. F. conflagration (16th c. in Littré).]
†1. The burning up of (anything) in a destructive fire; consumption by a blazing fire. Obs.
1555Eden Decades 246 The tyme of theyr conflagration or consumyng by fyer. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iv. xliv. 348 The day of Judgment, and Conflagration of the present world. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 320 The conflagration of the city of Magdeburg in the year 1631. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 136 America..famous for the conflagration of towns.
fig.1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 362 The..peril to Europe of the existence of such a centre of conflagration.
2. A great and destructive fire; the burning or blazing of a large extent or mass of combustible matter, e.g. of a town, a forest, etc. (With a and pl.)
1656Blount Glossogr., Conflagration, a general burning or consuming with fire. 1680in Somers Tracts II. 86 The Burning of London..that dreadful Conflagration. 1727Swift What passed in Lond. Wks. III. i. 189 Judging, that in the general conflagration to be upon the water would be the safest place. 1836Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. vii. 87 Conflagrations are often caused by the negligence of the wandering Indians. 1877Dowden Shaks. Primer ii. 28 In that year a great conflagration took place at Stratford.
b. fig.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. 27/2 The universal Conflagration, that, from the inundation of the Swedes, covered the whole empire of Germany. 1724Bp. Nicolson in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 448 IV. 335 We are now come into a general Conflagration.
†3. transf. Severe inflammation, high fever. Obs.
1681tr. Willis' Rem. Med. Wks. Vocab., Conflagration, a..being in a flame, as in great feavers. 1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. vi. 233 That the Aliment be thin..for so the Conflagration of the bloud is lessened. 1823Byron Let. to Moore 2 Apr., I..caught a cold and inflammation, which menaced a conflagration. |