[Lexicog] extinguish ~ die

[Ronald Moe]

There are only three natural ways to say this in English, none of which are
single words. (Examples from Longman Language Activator.)

'go out' The fire has gone out.

'die down' The fire slowly died down during the night.

'burn itself out' Firemen are hoping that the fire will burn itself out
before dawn.

There are plenty of active verbs:

extinguish, put out (a fire), fight (a fire), stub out (a cigarette), douse
(a fire), quench (the flames), blow out (a candle), smother (a fire), snuff
out (a candle/flame)

Ron Moe

 

  _____  

From: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Wayne Leman
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 1:24 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Lexicog] extinguish ~ die

 

I'm having a senior moment, or maybe it reflects an actual lexical lacuna in

English. Anyway, right now I can't think of an English word for what happens

to a fire if no more fuel is added to it. Of course, we can say that it 
"dies." And I am including 'die' and 'go out' glosses in a Russian dialect 
dictionary I am working on. But I would also like to include a gloss, if 
there is one, which is not semantically extended from its core meaning, as 
"die" and 'go out' are in English. I think that "extinguish" is only 
transitive. Does it have an intransitive counterpart of any kind, even if it

is a different lexeme?

Thanks,
Wayne
-----
Ninilchik Russian
http://ninilchik. <http://ninilchik.noadsfree.com> noadsfree.com



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