c1623 Revelation Golias in Latin Poems Walter Mapes (1841) App. 291 The sting of tongues the aflaming fire doth feed.

1854 Heiress of Somerton II. viii. 132 When she put her hand into his in frank, unreserved welcome, his thrilled with its gentle contact, and his whole being quivered, vibrated, and aflamed under it, and in the fond, overpowering desire to render the simple touch an ardent pressure.

1888 R. F. Burton tr. Supplemental Nights V. v. 180 When Ibn Ibrahim left him, he felt love-lowe aflaming in his heart.

1896 S. Naidu in Savoy Sept. 84 Eyes ravished with rapture, celestially panting, what passionate spirits aflaming with fire Drink deep of the hush of the hyacinth heavens that glimmer around them in fountains of light?

1900 J. G. Neihardt Divine Enchantment vi. 33 But just as the Sun smiled with anticipation Of zenith aflaming, a glorious station, Lo! Vishnu was there.

1927 H. Crosby Jrnl. 10–11 Apr. in Black Sun (1929) 2 vi. 5 In spring it would be wholesome to dive down into the depths of the black earth where all the flowers are aflaming still unsmitten and unbegun.

1970 D. McFadden Great Canad. Sonnet vii. 118 It was a pretty picture to see, flames aflamin' up flamboyantly. Nothing prettier than a swishin jet and a burning bush.

2001 T. Scoville Silicon Follies 80 There was a Chinese section, woks a-flaming, serving chow fun and dim sum.

c1450 C. d'Orleans Poems (1941) 78 The torchis sett of sighis pitously Which was with sorow sett a-flame.

1555 J. Brookes in J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1881) VI. xxxiii. 352 (modernized text) But also set a-flame the fire already kindled.

1576 G. Whetstone Rocke of Regard i. 50 Thou wert the baite, that Paris gaue the Dame, Who in reward, set stately Troy aflame.

1590 Tarltons Newes out of Purgatorie 37 Prowde Cupid threw his fiers To set a flame all mens desiers.

1654 J. Trapp Comm. Minor Prophets (Mal. iv. 1) 682 Shall so burn them..as to set them aflame.

1848 H. Mann Speech House of Representatives in W. Goodell Slavery & Antislavery (1853) ii. 9 She set the continent aflame, that she might seize the affrighted inhabitants as they ran shrieking from their blazing hamlets.

1894 J. S. Borlase Stirring Tales Colonial Adventure (1899) 108 The long, heat-withered grass and undergrowth were as dry and inflammable as tinder, and caught aflame as paper would have done.

1932 J. A. Thomson Great Biologists (1971) v. 31 When this hydrogen is set aflame in the atmosphere or in Priestley's ‘dephlogisticated air’ (oxygen), the result is water.

1975 L. Perl Slumps, Grunts, & Snickerdoodles iii. 35 Its base was suet, or beef fat, and flour, and it is usually served with a ‘hard sauce’ of cold, beaten butter, sugar, and brandy, and often set aflame with brandy as well.

2004 Farang May 67/1 They even teach fire-juggling here, and watching Farangs set their T-shirts aflame is a favourite pastime after midnight.

1830 J. A. Heraud Descent into Hell xv. 155 Old men and young, by Beauty set-aflame.

1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul II. x. lvi. 562 I remind thee to fan aflame the gift of God which is in thee.

1938 H. R. Abercrombie Afr. Peril 230 The African National Congress opened the eyes of the people and set aflame the force of race consciousness and race pride.

2007 W. F. Cooper in ‘Zane’ Dear G-Spot 228 Securing my ankles, Mistress Marissa's desires caught aflame as well.

1860 N. Hawthorne Transformation II. xiv. 273 In America..the western sky is wont to be set aflame with breadths and depths of color.

1876 Godey's Lady's Bk. Apr. 263/2 Eyes, two volcanoes ever active; mouth tremulous with the inward throes; two cheeks just catching aflame.

1909 A. MacGowan Wiving L. Cleaverage xvi. 238 Then came a day when the sun rose over low-lying clouds into a fleece of cirri that caught aflame with his mounting.

1941 V. Nabokov Real Life S. Knight xiii. 126 The low sun had set aflame the numerous windows of a large building which turned slowly, demonstrating one huge chimney, then another, as the train clattered by.

2010 L. Coffman Butterfly Moments 4 Then one evening when I am unaware And unexpectant, You paint the sky Aflame with color.

1632 W. Porter Madrigales & Ayres v. sig. B^v I my selfe grew all a flame.

1767 C. Smart tr. Horace Epodes xii, in tr. Horace Wks. (new ed.) II. 207 You too are all aflame.

1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh iii. 93 A tiptoe Danae, overbold and hot; Both arms a-flame to meet her wishing Jove Halfway.

1860 W. Collins Woman in White I. 55 I am all aflame with curiosity.

1890 Atlantic Monthly Feb. 195/1 Thereafter the captain's talk was of nothing but of chases, of captures,..of glory, of endless booty, until the junker went home at night with his head swimming and his heart aflame.

1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xiv ‘It wasn't foolish!’ cried Helen, her eyes aflame. ‘You've pushed back the boundaries; I think it splendid of you.’

1955 R. K. Murray Red Scare ii. 24 Tall, lean, supple, and with countenance aflame, he could spellbind audiences as he leaned far over the edge of the platform.

2004 New Yorker 17 May 24/2 This reputedly scurrilous work, aflame with heresy, turns out to be a bundle of schoolboyish jokes.

1680 A. Radcliffe in Earl of Rochester et al. Poems 138 These [sc. the Guards] we Glow-worms may name. For as they're dark of Body, have Tails all a flame.

1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere iii, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 17 The western wave was all a flame, The day was well nigh done!

1854 J. T. Trowbridge Martin Merrivale ii. 15 The west was all aflame with the glories of sunset.

1872 W. H. Dixon Switzers xviii. 177 At night, the city is aflame with lamps.

1922 Auckland Weekly News 26 Jan. 19 The magnificent beech forests of the South Island, now aflame with the scarlet flower of the native mistletoe.

1946 Happy Landings (Air Ministry) July 11/3 We recall..young pilots, chests aflame with so many medals that it made the Aurora Borealis look like a one-colour miniature.

2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 4 Mar. d2/4 The park is aflame in desert sunflowers, brown-eyed evening primrose, lupines, mustard, Spanish needles and popcorn flowers.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 152 One of the Factors..was blown up by a Cartrige of Pow[d]er, and squenched his Cloathes a-flame in the Ocean.

a1729 E. Taylor Metrical Hist. Christianity (1962) 232 A Comet like a piller all aflame.

1852 C. Kingsley Andromeda 222 Lovest thou cities aflame, fierce glows, and the shrieks of the widow?

1932 World Today Feb. 213/2 By ten o'clock the narrow strip of timber some three miles long and an eighth of a mile wide was well aflame.

1988 H. Scott Shaman's Stone (1989) i. ii. 16 Matches were on the mantelpiece. She lit the newspaper, watching until the sticks were aflame, then stacked on logs from the pile in the hearth.

2010 Atlantic Monthly June 24/3 And Jerry Thomas remains best known for the Blue Blazer, a Scotch drink he lit on fire and poured back and forth, still aflame, between two tankards.