flare up

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flare up (third-person singular simple present flares up, present participle flaring up, simple past and past participle flared up)

1. (intransitive) To burn brightly again.

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

2. (intransitive) To become more intense suddenly.

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

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

3. (intransitive, sometimes with “out” instead of “up”) To burst out suddenly, as in anger.

   The insult made him flare up.

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

     “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.

   • 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:

     "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."

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