Other forms: flares, flared, flaring
A flare is a bright light fired to show where you are. Set off a flare, a distress flare, the flare burned.
At sea a red flare means distress and a white one warns of a collision risk, and the colours are set by regulation. As a verb, to flare is to burn up suddenly, and tempers flare the same way. Flared trousers widen below the knee. Note that the word is probably related to the Latin for burning.
1nounflareA bright light fired to show where you are.
“The lost climbers fired a flare so the helicopter could find them.”
2verbburnTo burn up or break out suddenly.
“The fire flared up again when the wind changed direction.”
flare is a signal light, or a sudden burning.
Flare appears in the mid sixteenth century, probably related to Latin flagrare, to burn. Flagrant comes from the same burning.
first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“to 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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Emergency & Rescue