flare up

present singular third person flares up · participle present flaring up · participle past flared up · past flared up

1. intransitiveTo burn brightly again.

   The fire flared up after we added more wood to it.

2. intransitiveTo become more intense suddenly.

   The pain in my shoulder flares up when I turn my head.

   1 more example

   Reports indicate that tensions have flared up in the Middle East again.

3. intransitivesometimesTo burst out suddenly, as in anger.

   The insult made him flare up.

   2 more examples

   “Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   "It's my Welsh half that comes out when I flare up. Let the conjurors take their dirty money and let the rich folk keep their purses shut."

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

plural flare ups

1. alternativeAlternative form of flare-up.