A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

burn a hole in someone’s pocket • make a hole in
someone’s pocket
burn a hole in someone’s pocket—(of money) make a person
eager to spend it: It’s Sunday, everything’s closed, and there’s
Bob with $
1
0 burning a hole in his pocket.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase have money to burn—have so much money that one can
spend it freely: You must have money to burn. First of all, that
floodlighting, and then this.
make a hole in someone’s pocket—deplete smb.’s savings, bank
account, etc. considerably: The cost of these repairs to the
house has made a big hole in my pocket.
burn away • burn out
burn away —
1
. continue to burn: The fire was still burning
away cheerfully in the grate. 2. become less or be destroyed by
burning: Half the oil in the lamp had burnt away.
burn out—
1
. burn visibly: The lamp burned out in the dark-
ness of the night. 2. stop burning because there is no more
fuel: As the first rocket burns out, the second stage motor ig-
nites. 3. (of an engine, etc.) stop working through overheating:
The engine burned out because of a problem in the cooling
system. 4. (usually Passive) be made hollow by fire: The build-
ing was burnt out and only the walls remained. 5. decrease;
die down: The poet’s ability burned out before he was thirty.
burn down • burn up
burn down —(of buildings) be destroyed by fire: The old
house burned down last night in the big fire.
burn up —(of objects other than buildings) 
1
. be consumed by
fire: We found our tent burned to the ground and all my books
British Cicero, the
– 60 –

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burned up. 2. be destroyed by great heat: Most meteors have
burned up completely when they are still at great heights.