combusting

Verb

combust (third-person singular simple present combusts, present participle combusting, simple past and past participle combusted)

1. (dated, transitive) To burn up, to burn away, to consume with fire.
   • But if it be combuſted or burnt, it leaveth very much fixed Salt in its own aſhes.1662, Oriatrike, or, Physick Refined, page 183

   Synonyms:

   combure, burn, burn away, burn down, burn up, burn to a crisp, char up, cinder, cremate, forburn

2. (intransitive) To burn, to be consumed by fire; to catch fire.
   • Brom swore after that he spoke only the truth, the truth that as he sat by my side praying for my soul, my body had combusted into flame, the fire rapidly engulfing my entire being.2014, Adelais Selwyn, Eadric, volume 1

   Synonyms:

   go up, burn, forburn, outburn, torch, catch fire, catch on fire, conflagrate, fire, go up in flames

   1. (figuratively, intransitive) To erupt with enthusiasm or boisterousness.
      • The audience combusts.2012, Oliver Burkeman, The Antidote, Happiness for People who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, →ISBN

See all 6 meanings of combust