burn

   1. obsolete

   to infect with venereal disease

   The sensation of one of the symptoms felt by the male, especially when urinating:

    Light wenches will burn. Come not near her. (Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors)

   A man who burned his poker was so infected and a burner was the infection.

   2. American

   to kill

   Originally, by electrocution, from the singeing of the contact points on the corpse.

   Latterly, of any death, especially by shooting:

    Do you really think Knox burned Kipper and Stonehouse? (Sanders, 1980)

   3. to extort from or to cheat

   Probably a shortened form of put the burn on, to compel, through figurative application of heat¹ or by physically contra-rotating the skin at the wrist:

    I thought he was the one who burned me. (Theroux, 1976, writing of a cheat)

   In narcotic jargon, it may mean to take money for illicit supplies and fail to deliver, or to give information to the authorities about another's addiction.