blaze [OE] The blaze meaning ‘a bright flame’ and the one referring to a white streak on a horse’s face [M17th] are probably related, through the idea of shining or brightness. In America the second came to apply to a white mark chipped in a tree to indicate a path or boundary slightly later in the mid 17th century. This is where we get to blaze a trail [E20th], ‘to set an example by being the first to do something’. Cricketers and other sportsmen wore a type of brightly coloured, often striped jacket called a blazer in the late 19th century. The name came from the brightness of the cloth.