Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Failure of a jet aircraft engine, especially in flight, caused by the extinction of the flame in the combustion chamber.
  • noun Sudden failure or disgrace, especially of a very successful or prominent person.
  • noun Physical or emotional exhaustion; burnout.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of flaming out or burning out; extinguishing.
  • noun The act of quitting or failing, especially due to overwork or in a dramatic manner.
  • noun The sudden extinguishing of the flame of a burner (due to obstruction of fuel)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • And in that event, I believe it could have definitely been an engine failure, what we call flameout in aviation terms.

    CNN Transcript Oct 11, 2006 2006

  • The problem fixing the Wall Street flameout is that we have 535 legislators who are interested ONLY in1.

    David E. 2008

  • The McPalin flameout isn’t primarily a strategic problem for the GOP; it’s an existential one.

    sarah posner (the sensible sarah) 2008

  • The McPalin flameout isn’t primarily a strategic problem for the GOP; it’s an existential one.

    30 « October « 2008 « Niqnaq 2008

  • The spokesman also said that federal investigators didn't uncover any basic flaw with the engine, but urged industry after the crash to look at modifications that could help pilots who fail to precisely follow engine restart procedures in case of a so-called flameout, or abrupt engine stoppage in midair.

    FAA Orders Changes 2008

  • The novel's black comedy is on display in the opening chapter, as its protagonist, a self described "flameout" in her "previously lucrative career as a professional doormat," discovers a dead body in her co-op's laundry room:

    Saying Something 2010

  • At the time, a GE spokesman said the high-altitude "flameout" created "a scenario that's new for everybody."

    Engine Problems Spur Safety Efforts 2008

  • The odds of such "flameout" events when a plane's engines simultaneously shut down were once calculated at about one in a billion.

    An Image Maker, 2008

  • When humans malfunction, we now use such machine-related terms as "flameout" and

    GazetteOnline.com 2010

  • Others may cite Perry's late entrance into the race, his recent back surgery, or the relative weakness of his Democratic opposition in Texas for his prairie flameout, but Rick Perry has no one to blame but himself.

    Jason Stanford: Rick Perry's Fatal Flaw Jason Stanford 2012

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