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Burn someone down vs Burn someone up

burn someone down—(U.S. coll.) humiliate a person:

  • You just want to burn down everybody to make yourself seem better.

burn someone up—(U.S. coll.)

1. irritate smb. or make very angry:

  • What burns me up is the fact that seven per cent of all the families earned $500 a year or less.

2. reprimand or scold a person severely:

  • The manager burned Jim up yesterday for being late again.

Note: Neither expression correlates in meaning with the phrase burn someone out—(U.S. coll.) tire smb. greatly; cause a person to stop being active:

  • An extra effort has burned him out and left him no time to seek more interesting work.

See also: build a fire under someone / burn someone at the stake.