n. [ So called in allusion to the fable of the man who burned his barn in order to rid it of rats. ] 1. A member of the radical section of the Democratic party in New York, about the middle of the 19th century, which was hostile to extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848; -- opposed to Hunker. [ Political Cant, U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. an impressively successful or unusually good event. [ informal ] ”The rock concert was a real barnburner.” [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A furnace or stove in which the fuel is contained in a hopper or chamber, and is fed to the fire as the lower stratum is consumed. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ See Bude light. ] A burner consisting of two or more concentric Argand burners (the inner rising above the outer) and a central tube by which oxygen gas or common air is supplied. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Chem.), a kind of burner, invented by Professor Bunsen of Heidelberg, consisting of a straight tube, four or five inches in length, having small holes for the entrance of air at the bottom. Illuminating gas being also admitted at the bottom, a mixture of gas and air is formed which burns at the top with a feebly luminous but intensely hot flame. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, burns or sets fire to anything. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The part of a lamp, gas fixture, etc., where the flame is produced. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bunsen's burner (Chem.), see Bunsen burner. --
Argand burner,
Rose burner, etc. See under Argand, Rose, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A gas burner with a device for lighting by an electric spark. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The jet piece of a gas fixture where the gas is burned as it escapes from one or more minute orifices. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A circle or cluster of gas-burners for lighting and ventilating public buildings. [ 1913 Webster ]