1. [n]  the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and (often) smoke; "fire was one of our ancestors' first discoveries"
2. [v]  criticize harshly, on the e-mail
3. [v]  be in flames or aflame; "The sky seemed to flame in the Hawaiian sunset"
4. [v]  shine with a sudden light; "The night sky flared with the massive bombardment"

Flame
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1. \Flame\ (fl[=a]m), n. [OE. flame, flaume, flaumbe, OF.
   flame, flambe, F. flamme, fr. L. flamma, fr. flamma, fr.
   flagrare to burn. See {Flagrant}, and cf. {Flamneau},
   {Flamingo}.]
   1. A stream of burning vapor or gas, emitting light and heat;
      darting or streaming fire; a blaze; a fire.
   2. Burning zeal or passion; elevated and noble enthusiasm;
      glowing imagination; passionate excitement or anger. ``In
      a flame of zeal severe.'' --Milton.
            Where flames refin'd in breasts seraphic glow.
                                                  --Pope.
            Smit with the love of sister arts we came, And met
            congenial, mingling flame with flame. --Pope.
   3. Ardor of affection; the passion of love. --Coleridge.
   4. A person beloved; a sweetheart. --Thackeray.
   Syn: Blaze; brightness; ardor. See {Blaze}.
   {Flame bridge}, a bridge wall. See {Bridge}, n., 5.
   {Flame color}, brilliant orange or yellow. --B. Jonson.
   {Flame engine}, an early name for the gas engine.
   {Flame manometer}, an instrument, invented by Koenig, to
      obtain graphic representation of the action of the human
      vocal organs. See {Manometer}.
   {Flame reaction} (Chem.), a method of testing for the
      presence of certain elements by the characteristic color
      imparted to a flame; as, sodium colors a flame yellow,
      potassium violet, lithium crimson, boracic acid green,
      etc. Cf. {Spectrum analysis}, under {Spectrum}.
   {Flame tree} (Bot.), a tree with showy scarlet flowers, as
      the {Rhododendron arboreum} in India, and the
      {Brachychiton acerifolium} of Australia.
   

2. \Flame\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Flamed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Flaming}.] [OE. flamen, flaumben, F. flamber, OF. also,
   flamer. See {Flame}, n.]
   1. To burn with a flame or blaze; to burn as gas emitted from
      bodies in combustion; to blaze.
            The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing
            would make it flame again.            --Shak.
   2. To burst forth like flame; to break out in violence of
      passion; to be kindled with zeal or ardor.
            He flamed with indignation.           --Macaulay.
   

3. \Flame\, v. t.
   To kindle; to inflame; to excite.
         And flamed with zeal of vengeance inwardly. --Spenser.
   

To rant, to speak or write incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude or with hostility towards a particular person or group of people. "Flame" is used as a verb ("Don't flame me for this, but..."), a flame is a single flaming message, and "flamage" /flay'm*j/ the content.

Flamage may occur in any medium (e.g. spoken, electronic mail, Usenet news, World-Wide Web). Sometimes a flame will be delimited in text by marks such as "...".

The term was probably independently invented at several different places.

Mark L. Levinson says, "When I joined the Harvard student radio station (WHRB) in 1966, the terms flame and flamer were already well established there to refer to impolite ranting and to those who performed it. Communication among the students who worked at the station was by means of what today you might call a paper-based Usenet group. Everyone wrote comments to one another in a large ledger. Documentary evidence for the early use of flame/flamer is probably still there for anyone fanatical enough to research it."

It is reported that "flaming" was in use to mean something like "interminably drawn-out semi-serious discussions" (late-night bull sessions) at Carleton College during 1968-1971.

Usenetter Marc Ramsey, who was at WPI from 1972 to 1976, says: "I am 99% certain that the use of "flame" originated at WPI. Those who made a nuisance of themselves insisting that they needed to use a TTY for "real work" came to be known as "flaming asshole lusers". Other particularly annoying people became "flaming asshole ravers", which shortened to "flaming ravers", and ultimately "flamers". I remember someone picking up on the Human Torch pun, but I don't think "flame on/off" was ever much used at WPI." See also asbestos.

It is possible that the hackish sense of "flame" is much older than that. The poet Chaucer was also what passed for a wizard hacker in his time; he wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, the most advanced computing device of the day. In Chaucer's "Troilus and Cressida", Cressida laments her inability to grasp the proof of a particular mathematical theorem; her uncle Pandarus then observes that it's called "the fleminge of wrecches." This phrase seems to have been intended in context as "that which puts the wretches to flight" but was probably just as ambiguous in Middle English as "the flaming of wretches" would be today. One suspects that Chaucer would feel right at home on Usenet.

[Jargon File]