Blaze (blāz), n. [OE. blase, AS. blæse, blase; akin to OHG. blass whitish, G. blass pale, MHG. blas torch, Icel. blys torch; perh. fr. the same root as E. blast. Cf. Blast, Blush, Blink.] 1. A stream of gas or vapor emitting light and heat in the process of combustion; a bright flame. “To heaven the blaze uprolled.” Croly.
2. Intense, direct light accompanied with heat; as, to seek shelter from the blaze of the sun.
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon!
Milton.
3. A bursting out, or active display of any quality; an outburst; a brilliant display. “Fierce blaze of riot.” “His blaze of wrath.” Shak.
For what is glory but the blaze of fame?
Milton.
4. [Cf. D. bles; akin to E. blaze light.] A white spot on the forehead of a horse.
5. A spot made on trees by chipping off a piece of the bark, usually as a surveyor's mark.
Three blazes in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicating a legislative road, the single blaze a settlement or neighborhood road.
Carlton.
In a blaze, on fire; burning with a flame; filled with, giving, or reflecting light; excited or exasperated. — Like blazes, furiously; rapidly. “The horses did along like blazes tear.” Poem in Essex dialect.
☞ In low language in the U. S., blazes is frequently used of something extreme or excessive, especially of something very bad; as, blue as blazes. Neal.
Syn. — Blaze, Flame. A blaze and a flame are both produced by burning gas. In blaze the idea of light rapidly evolved is prominent, with or without heat; as, the blaze of the sun or of a meteor. Flame includes a stronger notion of heat; as, he perished in the flames.