sunburn

From Middle English *sunne burnen, *sonne brennen, *sunne brennen (suggested by derivatives sonne brennynge, sunne brennynge (“sunburn”, literally “sun-burning”) and sunne brente (“sunburnt”), equivalent to sun +‎ burn. Compare West Frisian sinnebrân (“sunburn”), Dutch zonnebrand (“sunburn”), German Sonnenbrand (“sunburn”), Swedish solbränna (“sunburn”), and Icelandic sólbruni (“sunburn”), as well as Old English sunbryne (“sunburn”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌnbɝn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌnbɜːn/

sunburn (countable and uncountable, plural sunburns)

1. A burn on the skin caused by excess exposure to the sun's rays.
2. A burn on the tissue of crop plants or their fruits (especially if they are rich in water like tomatoes, grapes, apples, gooseberries) caused by excess exposure to the sun's rays.

   Synonym: sunscald

3. Suntan.
   • 1956, Ian Fleming, chapter 22, in Diamonds Are Forever:

     The neutral colours showed off her café au lait sunburn.

• sunburnt
• windburn

sunburn (third-person singular simple present sunburns, present participle sunburning, simple past and past participle sunburned or (mostly Commonwealth) sunburnt)

1. (intransitive) To receive a sunburn.
   • c. 1613, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, London: D.N. and T.C., 1678, Act V, Scene 2, p. 64,

     I have brought

     Your grace a Salamanders skin, to keep you

     From sun-burning.

   • 1724, Aaron Hill, The Plain Dealer, No. 81, 28 December, 1724, London: S. Richardson and A. Wilde, Volume 2, p. 199,

     […] there is a Country, in the World, call’d Turkey; where Women are secur’d against the Danger of Sun-burning, by being kept out of the open Air, and lock’d up, like other Jewels, in Places where no Mischief can reach ’em.

   • 2012, Greg Grant, Texas Fruit & Vegetable Gardening, Minneapolis: Cool Springs Press, →ISBN, pages 148–149:

     All foliage is necessary in Texas to keep the tomato fruit from sunburning.

2. (transitive) To burn or tan (someone's skin) by the sun; to allow (a part of one's body) to become sunburnt.
   • 1668, John Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-all‎, London: H. Herringman, act II, page 11:

     My Aunt charg’d me not to pull off my Glove for fear of Sun-burning my hand.

   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 1, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 3:

     As we crossed the Colorado-Utah border I saw God in the sky in the form of huge gold sunburning clouds above the desert […]

   • 1989, Barbara Kingsolver, chapter 7, in The Bean Trees‎, New York: Harper and Row, page 95:

     “Oh shoot, I’ve sunburned the top half of my boobs,” she said, frowning down her chest.

   • 1998, Kevin Ryan, The Illustrated Guide to Snowboarding, Masters Press, The McGraw-Hill Companies, →ISBN, page 106:

     If you are serious about protecting your eyes, look into wearing goggles or alpine glasses that protect the sides of the eyes as well as the direct path of light into them. I once hiked up Mary’s Glacier wearing only a hat. That night after the hike I couldn’t sleep. I had sunburnt my eyes. It felt like hot pokers were being stuffed into my head. I could not open my eyes for four days.

• unburns