| 释义 |
▪ I. fire, n.|faɪə(r)|
Forms: 1 fýr, 2–4 fur(e, 3–5 fuyr(e, 4 fuir(e, 5 feure, 2–5 fer(e, 3 south. ver(e, (5 feer), 2–7 fier(e, (3 feir), 4–6 fyr(e, (5 fyyr, 5– 7 fyer(e, (5 feyer, 6 fyar, fieare), 2–5 fir, 3– fire.
[Com. WGer.: OE. fýr str. neut. = OFris. fiur, fior, OS. fiur (Du. vuur, Flem. vier), OHG. fiur, fûir (MHG. viur, fiwer, Ger. feuer); the Icel. fúr-r str. masc., fýre str. neut., fire, and Sw., Da. fyr, lighthouse, beacon, may be of German or Eng. origin. The OTeut. *fûir- (cons. stem) corresponds to Gr. πύ-ιρ, πῦρ, Umbrian pir, Arm. hūr, of same meaning; cf. Skr. pū, pāvaka fire.]
In poetry sometimes as two syllables |ˈfaɪə(r)|.
A. As simple n.
1. a. The natural agency or active principle operative in combustion; popularly conceived as a substance visible in the form of flame or of ruddy glow or incandescence.
c825Vesp. Psalter xvii. 9 [xviii. 8] Astaᵹ rec in eorre his & fyr from onsiene his born. a1000Cædmon's Exod. 93 (Gr.) Him beforan foran fyr and wolcen. c1175Lamb. Hom. 89 On þisse deie com þe halie gast on fures heowe to godes hirede. c1200Ormin 17414 He swallt þurrh firess wunde. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1140 Ðo meidenes herden quilum seien, Ðat fier sulde al ðis werld forsweðen. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 151, Y formed as a dragon, as red as þe fuyr. 1340Ayenb. 265 Þer me geo uram chele in to greate hete of uere. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 102 Þanne maist þou wiþ tendre gete fuyre of þat stone. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 21 The feer wych owt dede renne From his [the dragon's] mouth. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 3 Whiche from y⊇ gyrdell downwarde was all lyke fyre. 1607Hieron Wks. I. 364 Fier is known to be fier by the heat, though for the time it haue no flame. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 49 With a face as red as fire. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. lxxi. 802 Fire is the most powerful agent of life and death. 1837J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1839) I. i. 9 Fire does not inflame iron, but it inflames straw.
b. as one of the four ‘elements’.
a1300Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright) 121 Next the mone the fur is hext. 1576Baker Jewell of Health 170 a, Mans blood..out of which draw, according to Art, the fowre Elements..The water of it auayleth in all sicknesses..The Ayre also distylled of it much auayleth vnto [etc.]..But the fyre purchased of it is more precious..This fyre is named the Elixir vitæ. 1700Dryden Fables, Pythag. Philos. 517 The force of fire ascended first..Then air succeeds.
c. with reference to hell or purgatory; sometimes in pl. Also in Alchemy, † Fire of Hell = alkahest.
c975Rushw. Gosp. Mark ix. 44 Ðer..þ̶ fyr ne bið ᵹidrysnad. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. v. 22 Se ðe seᵹð, þu stunta, se byð scyldiᵹ helle fyres. a1175Cott. Hom. 221 Þat ece fer. a1300Cursor M. 29165 (Cott.) Þe fier of purgatori. 1577Fulke Confut. Purg. 102 But what doctrine is tryed..by the fire of purgatory? 1657G. Starkey Helmont's Vind. 241 The sweet oyl..by cohobation with the fire of Hell (that is, the Alchahest) becomes volatile. 1667Milton P.L. i. 48 In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire. 1829A. Fonblanque Eng. under 7 Administ. (1837) I. 273 [A child⁓witness] ‘knows that people who swear falsely in a Court of Justice go to brimstone and fire’.
fig.1847Tennyson Princ. v. 444 The fires of Hell Mix with his hearth.
d. Volcanic heat, flame, or glowing lava; † a volcanic eruption.
c1582Skory in Nature XXVII. 316 The fyers doe ofte breake forth from out the hole in the topp of this hill. 1632Lithgow Trav. ix. 391 This last and least fire [of Etna] runne downe in a combustible flood. 1734Pope Ess. Man iv. 124 Shall burning ætna..Forget to thunder and recall her fires? 1811W. J. Hooker Iceland (1813) II. 106 Hecla, from the frequency of its fires..has been..the most celebrated. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. i. 1 The volcanic fires of a past age..have..rendered the soil unfit for vegetation.
†e. farriery. = Cautery. Cf. to give the fire in 1 f. Obs.
1635Markham Faithf. Farrier (1638) 103 The Actuall fire stoppeth corruption of members, and stancheth blood..The Potentiall fires are Medecins Corosive, Putrefactive, or Caustick. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1740) II. 199 As Horses must submit to Fire. Ibid. 218 Is not this Oil, in a great measure, what we call potential Fire?
f. Phrases. † to give fire (to): (a) to apply a match to, set light to; to kindle, lit. and fig.; also absol.; (b) in Farriery (also, to give the fire), to cauterize; in quots. absol. to set († a) fire to († of, † in, † on, † upon): to apply fire to, kindle, ignite. to strike (or † smite) fire: see the verbs.
c1430Lydg. Minor P., Agst. Idlen. xx, Peryodes..From flyntes smote fuyre, darying in the roote. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 107 b, Thei set fire in their lodgynges, and departed in good ordre of battail. 1580Baret Alv. F 450 To strike fire with a flint, excutere silicis scintillam. 1580Blundevil Horsemanship iv. clxxxv. (heading), Of Cauterization, or giuing the fire. 1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 21 The Harquebuziers giving fire with their matches..to the touchpowder. 1604E. Grimstone Hist. Siege Ostend 45 A firie Bullet..set fire of a barrell of Poulder. 1607A. Brewer Lingua iv. i, He..gives fire to the touch-hole. 1623Bingham Xenophon 50 All arose and..set fire on the Carts, and Tents. 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts 549 Who shall invade their country and set a fire on their chief city. 1635Markham Faithf. Farrier (1638) 103 There are two waies to give fire. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 85 These Fuses are very certain to give Fire. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiii. (1704) III. 354 The Lady..having given fire her self to the Cannon. 1700Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. 786 They set Fire on the Suburbs. 1725Lond. Gaz. No. 6447/4 One of the said Persons did strike Fire. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 217 The absurdity of giving the Fire for the Cure of Bog-spavins. 1761Gray Let. to Brown 24 Sept. Fire was given to all the lustres at once by trains of prepared flax.
g. In exclamatory phrases (cf. 1 c).
[1601,1604: see brimstone 1 b.] 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan ii. 91 Fire an' brimstone! lay hold o' the trumpet, I say. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge 1, Fire and fury, master!.. What have we done, that you should talk to us like this!
h. Proverbs. † do not put fire to flax or tow. † there is no fire without smoke: i.e. everything has some disadvantages. there is no smoke without fire (see quot. 1670).
a1450Knt. de la Tour 25 It wille make her do and thenke the worse, as it were to putte fere in flexe. 1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 57 Put not fyer to fyer..This prouerbe is touched in Englyshe where it is sayde, that we ought not to put fyre to towe. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1562) Hj, There is no fyre without some smoke. 1670Ray Prov. 143 No smoke without some fire, i.e. There is no strong rumour without some ground for it. 1888F. Hume Mad. Midas ii. xii, ‘There is no smoke without fire’, replied Rolleston, eagerly.
2. a. State of ignition or combustion. In phrases: on fire (also † of a fire, † in (a) fire): ignited, burning; fig. inflamed with passion, anger, zeal, etc. to set (or † put) on fire (also † in (a) fire, † on a fire): to ignite, set burning; also fig. to inflame, excite intensely. to set the Thames on fire: to make a brilliant reputation. See also afire.
Not found in OE., nor is there anything analogous in German; F. has en feu. The phrases in lit. sense chiefly refer to destructive burning: cf. 5.
c1400Apol. Loll. 3 For þoo þre chimneis ich low of þe fendis blowing is sett in fire. a1400–50Alexander 2470 Fest I all on [v.r. in] a fire þe foly is ȝoure awen. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 742 Goo in-to þis howsse, & loke ye set yt on a feyer. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 17, I shall sett all his londes in fyre. c1500Melusine 228 He..sware his goddes that he shuld putte al on fyre. 1548Hall Chron. 107 b, The fortresse.. thei toke and set it on fire. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 136 No mans nature is so apt, straight to be heated, except the Oratour hymself be on fire. 1559Mirr. Mag., Jack Cade xvii. 6 Set much part on fire. 1641Shute Sarah & Hagar (1649) 148 Certainly, if God's mercy be in a fire, our thankfulness must not be in a frost. a1680Charnock Wks. (1864) I. 195 Water poured on lime sets it on fire by an antiperistasis. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. xv. 414 The Sea seemed all of a Fire about us. 1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 142 They were all on fire to fall on. 1818Shelley Rev. Islam vi. iv, For to the North I saw the town on fire. 1857Trollope Three Clerks vii, When Sir Gregory..declared that Mr. Fidus Neverbend would never set the Thames on fire, he meant to express his opinion that that gentleman was a fool. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 80 Enough was carried beyond the sea to set on fire the minds of all.
b. to catch, take fire, († set on fire): to become ignited (see catch v. 44, take v.). Also (colloq. or vulgar), to catch on fire.
1644Digby Two Treat. i. 183 The Indian canes..if they be first very dry, will of themselves set on fire. 1886Conway Living or Dead x, Now, don't catch on fire like that, Philip.
3. a. Fuel in a state of combustion; a mass of burning material, e.g. on a hearth or altar, in a burning furnace, etc. † to keep one's fire: to stay at home. coals of fire: see coal 1 b. Also ellipt. for gas fire, electric fire, etc.
a1000Cædmon's Gen. 322 (Gr.) Laȝon þa oðre fynd on þam fyre. c1205Lay. 1196 He halde þa milc in þat fur. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 12/373 Ouer a gret fuyr and strong. c1350Will. Palerne 907 Sum-time it hentis me wiþ hete as hot as ani fure, but quicliche so kene a cold comes þer-after. c1430Two Cookery-bks. 42 Do hem on a potte ouer þe fyre. c1460Play Sacram. 682 To make an ovyn as redd hott as euer yt can be made wt fere. c1500Melusine xxxvi. 264 To long he had kept his fyre. 1533Gau Richt Vay (1883) 31 As the gold is prouine in the fyr. c1558Cavendish Wolsey (1825) I. 204 Go down again, and make a great fire in your lodge, against I come to dry them. 1634Prynne Documents agst. Prynne (Camden) 24 He condempnes the booke to the fyer. 1697Dryden æneid ii. 398 The Wreaths and Relicks of th' Immortal Fire. 1717Berkeley Tour in Italy Wks. 1871 IV. 564 Cold weather; forced to have a fire. 1735Pope Donne Sat. ii. 112 No kitchens emulate the vestal fire. 1823Scott F.M. Perth ii, A good fire, with the assistance of a blazing lamp, spread light and cheerfulness through the apartment. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. v. (1857) 95 The second apartment..had..its fire full in the middle of the floor, without back or sides. 1895Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 334 Ball Fire without Fender and Trivet, 15/9. 1926–7Ibid. 344/2 A small 1-unit fire... One bar (1,000 watts). 1939–40Ibid. 271 All fires are wired complete. Ibid., Well designed 2 kw. fire with hammered copper reflector. 1968‘J. Le Carré’ Small Town in Germany v. 70 ‘Very gadget-minded, Mr Harting is... He had a tea machine.’..‘What else?’ ‘A fire. The new fan type with the two bars over.’
b. transf. and fig.; also in phr. near the fire. Phr. fire in the (or one's) belly: ambition, driving force, initiative.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 408 The other Princes and states, especially suche as are nere the fire. 1596Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 116 You may make a great fire of your gains and be never the warmer. 1611Bible Jas. iii. 6 The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquitie. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. v. iii, So shall my flagging Muse to heav'n aspire..And warm her pineons at that heav'nly fire. 1639Laud in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1721) III. ii. 899 Let him make a happy use of coming so near the Fire, and yet escape. 1665Hooke Microgr. 210 The excellent contrivance of Nature, in placing in Animals..a fire..nourished..by the materials conveyd into the stomach. 1709Pope Ess. Crit. 195 Some spark of your celestial fire. 1951N. Annan L. Stephen ix. 275 There is no fire in the belly, no sense of urgency. 196020th Cent. Nov. 390 If they rebel..then they are crackbrained, want a pretext for a rave, or have fire in their belly. 1970Guardian 10 Aug. 9/8 Her success is due, she says, ‘to the fact that I have fire in my belly’.
†c. fire of joy: a bonfire; = feu de joie 1.
a1674Clarendon Relig. & Policy (1711) I. vi. 314 Preparations..by the magistrates for making fires of joy.
d. The same serving as a beacon. [Cf. Da. fyr lighthouse.]
1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4893/3 The Fire [in a lighthouse] will be lighted..from the First Day of September.
e. Proverbs. a burnt child dreads the fire: see burnt 3 b. † a soft fire makes sweet malt: said as a recommendation of gentleness or deliberation. the fat is in the fire: see fat n.2 3 c.
a1300Salomon & Sat. (1848) 276 Brend child fur dredeþ, quoth Hendyng. 1340Ayenb. 116 Þe ybernde uer dret. c1530R. Hilles Common-Pl. Bk. (1858) 140 A softe ffyre makyth swete malte. 1550Coverdale Spir. Perle xiii. (1588) 141 A Burnt hande dreadeth the fire. 1663Butler Hud. i. iii. 1251 Soft fire, They say, does make sweet Malt, Good Squire.
† f. transf. in enumerations: A household. Obs.
1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 214 Parishes; in some of which..a thousand housholders or fires doe inhabit. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xviii. 63 A town of fifteen hundred fires.
g. to play with fire: to trifle with dangerous matters, esp. at the risk of moral disaster or emotional distress.
1887J. Grant (title) Playing with fire. 1887Kipling Plain Tales from Hills (1888) 139 There is no sort of use in playing with fire, even for fun. 1907Daily Chron. 9 Oct. 4/6, I should like to sound a note of warning, for, as one who plays with fire, he can only expect to get burnt. 1925A. S. M. Hutchinson One Increasing Purpose iii. xvi, Looking back upon herself in those fire-playing days. 1928Galsworthy Swan Song v. 33 If—on second thoughts, she wanted to play with fire. 1957L. P. Hartley Hireling xix. 149 She led me on, she played with fire, but she wouldn't have me.
†4.
a. The means of lighting a fire or setting something alight; a live coal.
b. Firing, fuel.
a1300Cursor M. 3163 (Gött.) Suord ne fir forgat he noght, And yong ysaac a fagett broght. 1540Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 6 With quarelles gunpouder, fyre, and touche. 1611Bible Gen. xxii. 7 Behold the fire and wood; but where is the lambe for a burnt offring?
b.1547Nottingham Rec. IV. 91 In exspenses for fyar and candelle. 1635W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 96 There is a mighty want of fire in these moors. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §274 Little extra expence..except a little more Lead, and a little more Fire.
5. a. Destructive burning, esp. of any large extent or mass of combustible material, e.g. a building, forest, etc.; a conflagration. Also in phr. fire and sword, († iron and fire); also attrib. at fire's-length (rare): at a safe distance in the event of fire. For (to set) on fire, etc. see 2.
a1175Cott. Hom. 239 Wic drednesse wurð þer þan þat fer to for him abernð þat middernad. c1205Lay. 2159 He fuhten wið his leoden mid fure & mid here. c1325Know Thyself 30 in E.E.P. (1862) 131 Hit fareþ as fuir of heth. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 96 Fur on here houses. 1504Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 5 A great fier at the ende of London Bridge. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 314 Spoylyng the Countrie with yron and fyre as he went. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 9 b, These offices (for feare of fyre) you see, are all severed from the house. 1600Holland Livy vii. 269 In euerie place nothing but fire and sword. 1667Waterhouse (title), A short narrative of the late dreadful fire in London. 1724T. Richers Hist. R. Geneal. Spain 53 They..put all to Fire and Sword. 1738Johnson London 14 Now a rabble rages, now a fire. 1780in Lett. 1st Earl Malmesbury (1870) I. 465 This night we are quiet, and I hear no attempts at fire have been made. 1781Cowper Conv. 756 Till the last fire burn all between the poles. 1820Shelley Ode to Naples 148 The fields they tread look black and hoary With fire. 1830Westm. Rev. XIII. 313 ‘The dissolution of social order,’ which our fire-and-sword logicians so long and confidently preached. 1855Trollope Warden xix, That would be saving something out of the fire. 1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 428 Wooden houses, wisely placed at fire's-length from each other.
fig.1548Hall Chron. 99 b, The greate fire of this discencion, betwene these twoo noble personages, was..utterly quenched out. 1654tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 3 To see this fire extinguished, before the flame grew higher.
b. Sc. Law. letters of fire and sword: before the Union, an order authorizing the sheriff to dispossess an obstinate tenant or proceed against a delinquent by any means in his power.
1681Visct. Stair Instit. Law Scot. iv. xxxviii. §27 (1693) 662 Letters of Fire and Sword are given out against them. a1768Erskine Instit. iv. iii. §17 (1773) 691 If a party was so obstinate as to..continue his possession in despite of the law, the Scots privy council..granted letters of fire and sword, authorising the sheriff to..dispossess him by all the methods of force. 1861W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v.
c. An exclamation used as a call for aid at a conflagration.
1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iv. 201 One cryes, Fire! Fire! Fire! the Church doth burn. 1819T. Moore Tom Crib's Mem. 21 As a man would cry ‘fire!’
d. to go through fire: to submit to the severest ordeal or proof; to go through fire and water: to encounter or face the greatest dangers or hardest chances.
c825Vesp. Psalter lxv[i]. 12 We leordun ðorh fyr & weter. 1534G. Hervet tr. Xenophon's Householde 61 b They wolde gladly folowe theym through fyre and water, and throughe all maner of daunger. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. ii. 103 And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake. 1598― Merry W. iii. iv. 107 A woman would run through fire & water for such a kinde heart. 1660Jer. Taylor Worthy Communicant ii. §i. 119 We also are to examine..how we have passed through the fire? 1781Cowper Expost. 521 [They] Would hunt a Saracen through fire and blood. a1796Burns Ronalds of Bennals 19 The Laird o' Blackbyre wad gang through the fire If that wad entice her awa, man.
e. a brand from (or out of) the fire, see brand n. 3 b; to save out of the fire, to preserve as a remnant from a disaster or catastrophe; to pull or snatch out of the fire [after Jude 23], to rescue from disaster or ruin.
1855Trollope Warden xix, To be sure Puddingdale is only four hundred, but that would be saving something out of the fire. 1893H. Hutchinson Golfing 85 It is wonderful what matches these strong souls now and again pull out of the fire. 1924G. Lambton Men & Horses 120 Well, I pulled that race out of the fire. 1927Daily Tel. 11 Oct. 5/6 The winner pulling the match out of the fire after being down 2 sets to 1. 1928Observer 10 June 27/4 The best snatcher of a match out of the fire that we ever had. 1932C. Morgan Fountain i. i. 9 A man who..pulls a business out of the fire isn't an incompetent.
f. to pull the chestnuts out of the fire: used (with reference to the fable of the monkey using the cat's paw to extract roasting chestnuts from the fire) of the employment of another to undertake the dangerous part of an enterprise. (See N. & Q. 6th Ser., 1883, VII. 286, VIII. 34.)
[1586G. Whitney Emblems 58 The ape, did reache for Chestnuttes in the fire,..he with a whelpe did close, And thruste his foote, into the Embers quick, And made him, pull the Chestnuttes out perforce.] 1657[see cat's paw 2]. [ 1754Richardson Grandison III. 358 He makes her fight his battles for him; and become herself the cat's paw to help him to the ready-roasted chestnuts.] 1886[see unionist A. 1. c]. 1930J. C. Snaith Unforeseen ii. xxi, He was the guy who pulled the financial chestnuts out of the fire. 1957Economist 28 Sept., The Germans cannot be expected to pull our chestnuts out of the fire.
g. where's the fire?: jocular phrase said to a person who is in a hurry.
1924P. Creswick Beaten Path xxxvi. 195 A husky voice enquired of me: ‘Where's the fire?’ 1963J. F. Straker Final Witness xvi. 174 ‘Where's the fire, dear boy?’ he drawled. ‘Do we really have to run for it?’ 1971‘H. Calvin’ Poison Chasers ix. 124 ‘Where's the fire?’ he snarled.
6. Torture or death by burning. Also, fire and faggot: see faggot 2. Hence † (to persuade) by fire: by extreme inducements.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. iii. 9 And are not sometime perswaded by fire beyond their literalities. 1718Prior Charity 8 Did Shadrach's Zeal my glowing Breast inspire, To weary Tortures, and rejoice in Fire.
7. Lightning; a flash of lightning; a thunderbolt. More fully, † levenes fire, fire of heaven. † electrical fire: the electric fluid, electricity.
1154O.E. Chron. an. 1122 Com se fir on ufenweard þone stepel. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3046 Ðhunder, and hail, and leuenes fir. c1300Cursor M. 19613 (Cott.) Þe fire of heuen þar has him stunt. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 102 Þenne falleth þer fur on false menne houses. 1747Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 186 He imagined that the electrical fire came down the wire from the ceiling to the gun-barrel. 1748Ibid. 215 Vapors, which have both common and electrical fire in them. 1820Shelley Ode W. Wind ii. 14 From whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst.
8. a. An inflammable composition for producing a conflagration or for use in fireworks; a firework. More fully artificial fire = Fr. feu d'artifice. Obs. exc. in false fire: see false a. 14 b.
1602Dekker Satiro-Mastix E iij, We must have false fiers. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xx. 71 Nine hundred pots of artificial fire. 1662J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 51 The Artificial Fires, which are made use of to frighten these Creatures. 1700J. Jackson in Pepys Diary VI. 232 The rockets, and other smaller fires, were in abundance. 1777G. Forster Voy. Round World II. 92 We let off some false fires at the mast-head.
b. Greek fire: a combustible composition for setting fire to an enemy's ships, works, etc.; so called from being first used by the Greeks of Constantinople. Also wild fire: see wildfire.
a1225Ancr. R. 402 Þis Grickische fur is the luue of ure Lourde. c1477Caxton Jason 101 b, Sparkklyng and brennyng as fyre grekyssh. 1855Hewitt Anc. Armour I. 90 The receipt for the composition of the Greek Fire may be found in the Treatise of Marcus Grecus.
9. Coal Mining = firedamp.
1883in Gresley Gloss. Coal. Mining.
10. a. Luminosity or glowing appearance resembling that of fire.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. i. 12 His sparkling Eyes, repleat with wrathfull fire. 1605― Macb. i. iv. 51 Starres, hide your fires, Let not Light see my black and deepe desires! 1735Pope Prol. Sat. 5 Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand. 1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 762 Their soft smiles light the air like a star's fire. 1865J. C. Wilcocks Sea Fisherm. (1875) 271 Should the ‘brime’ or ‘fire’ show itself, the fish will not be likely to strike the nets. 1873Black Pr. Thule x. 164 A great fire of sunset spread over the west.
b. fires of heaven, heavenly fires: (poet.) the stars. fires of St. Elmo: see corposant. † fatuous, foolish fire (obs.) = ignis fatuus.
1563W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 11 b, Ignis fatuus, foolish fire. 1607Shakes. Cor. i. iv. 39 Or by the fires of heauen, Ile leaue the Foe. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 256 Before him burn Seaven Lamps as in a Zodiac representing The Heav'nly fires. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. xxi. 134 Floating bodies of fire..the fires of St. Helmo, or the mariner's light. 1847Tennyson Princess iv. 255 Like the mystic fire on a mast-head.
11. Heating quality (in liquors, etc.); concr. in jocular use, ‘something to warm one’, ardent spirit. Also (see quot. 1819).
1737Fielding Hist. Reg. ii. Wks. 1882 X. 223 We'll go take a little fire for 'tis confounded cold upon the stage. 1819Rees Cycl. s.v. Fire, Also the heat of fermenting substances..has often been called their fire. 1851Thackeray Eng. Hum. ii, [He] was of a cold nature, and needed perhaps the fire of wine to warm his blood. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. 37 One corner of land after another is tried with one kind of grape after another..Those lodes and pockets of earth..that yield inimitable fragrance and soft fire..still lie undiscovered.
12. Burning heat produced by disease; fever, inflammation. Also disease viewed as a consuming agency. St. Anthony's fire: a name for one or more inflammatory or gangrenous diseases of the skin, variously identified with erysipelas, ergotism, etc.; also, † wild fire, wildfire. † St. Francis' fire (Spencer): ? = St. Anthony's fire.
c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋427 By the fyr of seint antony or by cancre. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 223 Panaricium is an enpostym..aboute þe nail and is swiþe hoot and..ful of fier. 1527etc. [see Anthony (St.)]. 1580Baret Alv. F 447 S. Antonies fire, ignis sacer. 1580Blundevil Horsemanship iv. clxv. 69 You must get it [the pellet] out with an instrument..Then to kill the fire. Take [etc.]. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 35 The shaking palsey, and Saint Fraunces fire. 1686Lady Russell Lett. I. xxxvi. 94 Ill of St. Anthony's fire. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 727 When the thirsty Fire had drunk Their vital Blood. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 301 The Inflammation, which they term Fire. 1843Sir T. Watson Lect. Physic II. lxxxix. 767 Erysipelas..called..St. Anthony's fire. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxvi. (1878) 460 The unseen fire of disease.
13. In certain figurative applications of sense 1.
a. A burning passion or feeling, esp. of love or rage.
a1340Hampole Psalter Prol., Þai..kyndils þaire willis wiþ þe fyre of luf. 1435Misyn Fire of Love 1 Hampole hys boke has named Incendium Amoris, þat is to say ‘þe fyer of lufe’. 1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 68 The wicked fire of lust. 1694F. Bragge Disc. Parables xii. 408 Rage, and fury, and impatience..are frequently attended with the epithet of fire. 1780Cowper Table T. 606 The victim of his own lascivious fires. 1818Shelley Rev. Islam x. xl, With an inward fire possesst, They raged like homeless beasts. 1859Tennyson Enid 955 He fain had..loosed in words of sudden fire the wrath..that burnt him all within.
b. Ardour of temperament; ardent courage or zeal; fervour, enthusiasm, spirit.
1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 177, I am glad that my weake words Haue strucke but thus much shew of fire from Brutus. 1709Steele Tatler No. 61 ⁋ 1 Among many Phrases which have crept into Conversation..[is] that of a Fellow of a great deal of Fire. 1814Sporting Mag. XLIV. 92 Both were full of fire and courage. 1865Kingsley Herew. xx, Hereward was haranguing them in words of fire.
c. Liveliness and warmth of imagination, brightness of fancy; power of genius, vivacity; poetic inspiration.
1656Cowley Pindar. Odes, To Mr. Hobs vi, Nor can the Snow which now cold age does shed Upon thy reverend Head, Quench or allay the noble Fires within. 1680–90Temple Ess. Poetry Wks. 1731 I. 237 The Poetical Fire was more raging in one, but clearer in the other. 1737Pope Hor. Ep. ii. i. 274 Corneille's noble fire. 1847Illust. Lond. News 10 July 27/1 As an actress, she has fire and intelligence. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 228 For the poet there is a season of inward fire. 1877R. W. Dale Lect. Preach. i. 26 They have neither the fire of a human genius nor the fire of a Divine zeal.
14. a. The action of firing guns, etc.; discharge of fire-arms; also in phrases, † to give, make (a) fire. to open fire: to begin firing. between two fires: lit. and fig. under fire: within the range of an enemy's guns; also fig., criticized. † weapon of fire = fire-arm.[The similar use of F. feu shows that this is not (as is often said) a separate word f. fire v., but a transferred use of the n. as it occurs in the phrase to give fire (see 1 f) = F. faire feu.] 1590J. Smythe Concern. Weapons 27 Liking the aforesaid weapons of fire, because [etc.]. 1600Sir John Oldcastle v. ix, Unconstant fate, That hast reserved him from the bullet's fire. 1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 8 Some of the Soldiers of the Castle gave fire upon them. 1706Lond. Gaz. No. 4243/1 We made..great fire all Night with our Cannon. 1709Steele Tatler No. 80 ⁋9 The Charge began with the Fire of Bombs and Grenades. 1815Scott Paul's Lett. (1839) 112 One fire..struck down seven men of the square. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 237 A learned Barrister was practising a fire at a mark. 1847Marryat Childr. N. Forest iv, You shall have the first fire. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 280 Most of Mackay's men had never before been under fire. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 248 A direct fire from a battery is when the line of fire is perpendicular to the parapet. 1885Times 20 Feb. 5/6 He was about to find himself placed between two fires—viz. the Mahdi and the reinforced garrison of Metammeh.
fig.1792Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 17 If they have received the fire of the grand juries with a good countenance. 1848Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. ix, Miss Belinda opening the fire, by saying she understood Mrs. Hoggarty had been calumniating her. 1886‘Mark Twain’ Lett. to Publishers 19 Mar. (1967) 196 It isn't good policy for anybody connected with our publishing firm to be under a fire of newspaper criticism this year. 1965New Statesman 19 Mar. 430/3 Their chief..has recently been under fire because it appeared he had joined the Nazi Party in his student days. 1968Time 17 May 66 University ties with IDA have also come under fire at Columbia.
b. false fire: see false a. 14 b. reverse fire, running fire: see the adjs. Also transf. Kentish fire, a mode of applauding by ‘volleys’ of handclapping, etc.: see kentish.
c. to hang fire, miss fire: see the vbs.
15. Cricket. Tendency (of a ball) to fly up erratically or (of the ground) to cause the ball to fly up.
1888A. G. Steel in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket iii. 161 A good long run..gets way and ‘fire’ on to the ball. 1897K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket 70 Coming from a high elevation, a ball..has more fire or ‘devil’ in it. Ibid. 80 There is something to be done with the ball when..the wicket has fire in it.
B. Fire- in Comb.
I. General relations.
1. attributive.
a. gen. (sense 1), as fire-chariot, fire-colour, fire-crag, fire-flame, fire-flash, fire-flood, fire-folk, fire-glance, fire hazard, fire-heat, † fire-leme, fire-mist, fire-ordeal, fire-season, fire-stream; (sense 3), as fire-beacon, fire-blaze, fire-coal, fire-glow, fire-link, fire season, fire-shine, fire-signal; (sense 14), as fire-shock.
1804Edin. Rev. III. 430 The Amonian *firebeacons.
1605Verstegan Dec. Intell. iii. (1628) 80 A torch, or as they terme it a *fire-blase.
1849Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. II. 391 Elijah dropping his cloak as the *fire-chariot carries him away.
1640Witt's Recreations, Epit., On a Candle, And with it a *fire-coale. a1672P. S[terry] Wks. (1710) II. 283 The Fire-Coals, which our Saviour taught his Disciples to cast on their Enemies. 1802Beddoes Hygëia v. 17 P. How hot! N. She has been like a fire-coal these two hours.
1811Pinkerton Petral. II. 96 One pretty large, of the scarce *fire-colour with the purple tinge.
1821Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 333 My cloven *fire-crags.
1817Coleridge Sibyl. Leaves (1828) II. 304 The shadows..By the still dancing *fire-flames made.
1586C. Fetherstone (title), Brutish Thunderbolt, or rather Feeble- *Fier-Flash of Pope Sixtus the Fift, against Henrie..of Navarre. 1632Lithgow Trav. i. 35 Earthquakes, thunder, and fire-flashes. 1842Barham Ingol. Leg., Smuggler's Leap, The fire-flash shines from Reculver cliff.
1821J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Wallace xxvi, To see the *fire-flood in their rear.
1877G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 26 O look at all the *fire-folk sitting in the air!
a1835Mrs. Hemans Poems, League of Alps iv, Where the sun's red *fire-glance earliest fell.
1907Westm. Gaz. 18 Dec. 2/3 What's amiss with the *fire-glow, what is awry with the light?
1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 8 July 4/1 Logging methods such as will tend to reduce the *fire hazard that now prevails. 1935Discovery Nov. 316/2 The film used will be of the safety type, which presents somewhat less fire hazard than ordinary newsprint.
1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 65 *Fire-heat at 212° of Fahrenheit produced detonation.
a1000Satan 128 (Gr.) *Fyrleoma stod ᵹeond þæt atole scræf. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxiv. 250 Many..vncouthe syghtes were this yere seen in Englonde, as hostis of men fyghtyng in the skye, & fyre lemys.
1579–80North Plutarch (1676) 884 Tying Torches of *Fire-links unto their horns.
1875G. H. Lewes Problems II. 393 We begin an inquiry which may lead back to the primeval *fire-mist. 1878W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 47 Back of him [sc. the polyp] lay the not-yet-polyp, and, back of all, the universal mother, fire-mist.
1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 41 That new kind of *fire-ordeal.
1892Work IV. 58/1 The mantleshelf in the ‘*fire season’ is the dustiest place in the room. 1901Wide World Mag. VIII. 194/2 The long grass was as inflammable as tinder; but this not being the ‘fire’ season we anticipated no danger.
1871Rossetti Poems, My sister's sleep v, By vents the *fireshine drove And reddened.
1824J. Symmons tr. æschylus' Agam. 31 note, This description of the *fire-signals is very finely imagined.
1811W. J. Hooker Iceland (1813) II. 142 The *fire-stream over-ran the southern district.
b. Of or pertaining to the worship of fire, as fire-deity, fire-god, fire-spirit, fire-temple. Also fire-worship, -worshipper.
1871Tylor Prim. Cult. II. xvi. 252 A distinct *fire-deity.
Ibid. 253 The *Fire-spirit.
1815Moore Lalla R. (1817) 260 By the *Fire-God's shrine.
1741D. Wray in Athen. Lett. (1792) II. 470 He will..lay the foundation of a *fire-temple.
c. In the names of various receptacles for burning fuel, as fire-bag, fire-basket, fire-cage, fire-chauffer.
1843Portlock Geol. 682 On the outside [of the kiln]..a niche is formed to receive the fuel, and is called a *fire-bag.
1855H. Clarke Dict., *Fire-basket, portable grate.
1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 862/2 *Fire-cage, a skeleton box or basket of iron for holding lighted fuel.
1558Inv. R. Hyndmer in Wills & Inv. (Surtees) 162, Ij *fyer chavffers.
d. Pertaining to the fire of a hearth or furnace, as fire-bellows, fire-block, fire-blower, fire-brush, fire-cheek, † fire-cricket, fire-door, fire-grate, fire-nook, fire-rake, fire-set, † fire-stock, fire-stove.
c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 779 Hoc reposilium, a *fyirbelowys.
1836F. Mahoney Rel. Father Prout ii. (1859) 247, I..made the kindling *fireblocks shine.
1884Health Exhib. Catal. 65/1 Patent *Fire Blower, for..regulating the draught in ordinary grates.
a1745Swift Direct. Servants, Footman, Clean away the Ashes from betwixt the Bars with the *Fire-Brush.
1884Health Exhib. Catal. 82/1 *Fire Cheeks and Hearths of Marble Mosaic.
1530Palsgr. 220/2 *Fyre crycket, cricquet.
1838Civil Engin. & Archit. Jrnl. Sept. 326/2 It produced more steam than was required, and with the *fire-door kept open. 1859Rankine Steam Engine §304 The fire-door, which closes the mouth-piece or doorway.
1664Evelyn Kal. Hort (1729) 229 Let..the *Fire-grate stand about three Feet higher than the Floor. 1840Marryat Poor Jack xlix, I..went to the fire-grate.
1845R. W. Hamilton Pop. Educ. ii. (ed. 2) 21 Their huts are seen and their *fire-nooks exposed.
1660Hexham, Een kam-stock, a *Fire-rake which Brewers and Bakers use.
1855H. Clarke Dict., *Fire-set, fire-irons.
c1440Promp. Parv. 161/2 *Fyyr stok.
1756W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orph. III. 205 He came with..his head into the *fire stove.
e. In the names of implements or instruments bearing, containing, or sending forth fire, as fire-arrow, fire-cane, fire-gun, fire-shaft, fire-spear, fire-weapon.
1720De Foe Capt. Singleton xvii. (1840) 291 They would..shoot *fire-arrows at you. 1809Naval Chron. XXII. 374 We should indulge them..with a few shot and shell, not forgetting Congreve's fire arrows.
1887Graphic 17 Dec. 662/1 He..had produced a *‘fire-cane’, which warmed its owner's hand, and supplied him with lighting for his cigar.
1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 88 They let off their *Fireguns and Pistols.
1628(title), A new invention of Shooting *Fire-Shafts in Long-Bowes.
1549Compl. Scot. vi. 42 Mak reddy ȝour..*fyir speyris, hail schot, lancis, pikkis.
1616Bingham Tactics ælian ii. 25 note, The *fire-weapons haue theire advantages. 1860Hewitt Anc. Armour Supp. 489 The analogous fire-weapons.
f. In the names of various kinds of fireworks, as fire-cracker, † fire-lance, † fire-sword, † fire-target.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Fire-cracker. 1958Punch 22 Jan. 150/3 Nine weeks ago firecrackers were thrown into the gangway and among neighbouring seats.
1634J. Bate Myst. Nat. & Art ii. 89 The description and making of three sorts of *Fire-lances.
Ibid. ii. 88 How to make a *fire sword.
Ibid. ii. 94 How to make a *Fire-target.
g. Pertaining to a conflagration (sense 5), (a) gen. as fire-bell, fire-drum, fire-gown, fire-ladder, fire-loss, fire-shell, fire-telegraph, fire-watch, fire-year; (b) used in kindling a conflagration, as fire-bavin, fire-fagot, fire-mixture; (c) concerned with the extinction of a conflagration, as fire-apparatus, fire-barrow, fire-boat, fire-bucket, fire-call, fire-chief, fire-float, fire-main, fire-marshal (U.S.), fire-pipe, fire-pump.
1901Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 6 Oct. 2/1 Loss about $225,000, with 25 per cent. insurance. There was no *fire apparatus.
1890Daily News 9 Jan. 2/5 *Fire barrows and hose were quickly on the spot.
1832Webster, *Firebavin, a bundle of brush-wood, used in fireships.
a1626Middleton Changeling v, Buckets! ladders!.. The *fire-bell rings. 1867Dickens Lett. 22 Dec. (1880) II. 320, I have heard the fire bells dolefully clanging all over the city.
1876N.Y. Nautical Gaz. in Pract. Mag. VI. 73 An iron *fire-boat.
1585Higins Junius' Nomenclator 279 Incendiarij siphones..*Fire buckets. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxvii, Rows of fire⁓buckets for dashing out a conflagration in its first spark.
1897Daily News 30 Nov. 5/1 Our *fire-call system in London. 1906Westm. Gaz. 26 Apr. 7/1 Within a very few minutes of the fire-call being rung.
1889Kansas Times & Star 21 Sept., Our gallant *fire chief was elected first vice-president.
1814Scott Wav. xxxiv, A kind of rub-a-dub-dub like that with which the *fire-drum alarms the slumbering artizans.
1828–40Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 137 Piles of *fire-fagots, mixed with bundles of pitch and flax..were in readiness.
1887Daily News 18 June 3/5 Five *fire-floats were quickly sent from ships in the harbour.
1874Mrs. Whitney We Girls xii. 249 Mrs. Hobart has a *‘fire-gown’..she made it for a fire, or for illness, or any night-alarm.
1832Examiner 700/1 It was 20 minutes..before the *fire-ladders were brought.
1891Daily News 30 Nov. 5/4 A professional *fire⁓loss assessor.
1855H. Clarke Dict., *Fire-main, water⁓pipe for occasions of conflagration.
1894Stead If Christ came to Chicago 295 *Fire-Marshal Swenie has remained in command of the firemen for many years.
1855Hewitt Anc. Armour I. 90 These early *fire-mixtures.
c1865Ld. Brougham in Circ. Sc. I. Introd. 6 Water..forced out of a pump, or from a *fire-pipe.
1892Pall Mall G. 9 Feb. 2/1 The *fire-pump..has a throwing power of sixty feet above the highest pinnacle of the hotel.
a1818M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834) 70 A *fire-shell is blown, and all the negroes..hasten to give their assistance.
1694Acc. Sweden 27 There is also a *Fire-Watch by Night.
1673F. Kirkman Unlucky Citizen A iij b, The next year 1666 being the *Fire year.
2. objective (sense 1), as fire-bringer, fire-spewer, fire-striker, fire-user; fire-bearing, fire-belching, fire-breathing, fire-darting, fire-foaming, fire-resisting, fire-spitting, fire-using adjs.; (sense 3), as fire-holder, fire-keeper, fire-kindler, fire-trimmer; fire-making vbl. n.; fire-kindling vbl. n. and adj.; (sense 5), as fire-annihilator, fire-extinguisher, fire-extinguishing, fire-fighter, fire-fighting, fire-quencher, fire-quenching; fire-resistant adj.; fire-retardant adj. and n.
1849Mech. Mag. LI. 424 The so-called *Fire Annihilator of Mr. Phillips.
1853Grote Greece ii. lxxxiv. XI. 153 They set fire to the city..with *fire-bearing arrows.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 22 Their *Fire-breathing Horses. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vi. i. 267 On a sudden..rises Sansculottism, many-headed, fire-breathing.
1594Marlowe & Nashe Dido i. i, Exhal'd with thy *fire-darting beames. 1769Goldsm. Hist. Rome (1786) I. 199 The fire-darting eyes of the Romans.
1849Mech. Mag. LI. 381 The patentee next describes a portable *fire-extinguisher. 1928Galsworthy Swan Song iii. xiii. 319 He..seized a fire extinguisher... He knew vaguely that you dashed the knob on the floor and sprayed the flames.
1876N.Y. Nautical Gaz. in Pract. Mag. VI. 73 This boat and her *fire-extinguishing apparatus deserve detailed description.
1903Westm. Gaz. 16 June 4/3 The ‘invention’ and arrangement of the display..is the work of a practical *fire-fighter of great experience..who has been for a long time the chief officer of the Hampton Fire Brigade. 1904Forum Oct. 274 The most modern equipment should be at the command of the fire fighters. 1945S. Spender Citizens in War 26 The work of fire-fighters depended greatly on the prompt reporting of fires. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. B7/2 (Advt.), A well equipped Fire Department with a present strength of over 80 Fire Fighters.
1897L. J. Gage in Open Court XI. 213 The *fire-fighting force is divided into 109 companies. 1897Westm. Gaz. 22 Nov. 9/1 Chemical engines, water-towers, and other time-saving and fire-fighting apparatus. 1903Daily Chron. 5 May 7/1 The present week is an interesting one in the history of fire-fighting. 1959Times Rev. Industry Sept. 50/1 The standard of fire-fighting equipment has improved. 1971Guardian 7 July 1/8 Fire fighting equipment..must be available.
1565Golding Ovid's Met. ii. (1593) 31 His *fier-foming steedes..They take from manger trimly dight.
1872H. W. Taunt Map Thames 49/1 A frying-pan, pot, and kettle, all to fit a *fireholder. 1881Greener Gun (ed. 2) 45 These fire⁓holders were usually attached to the girdle.
1873L. Wallace Fair God v. iv. 278 When my sword is at the throats of the *fire-keepers [of an Aztec temple].
1643[Angier] Lanc. Vall. Achor 21 To darken and smother the *fire⁓kindlers. 1849E. C. Otté tr. Humboldt's Cosmos II. 508 note, The ‘fire-kindler’, Prometheus.
Ibid., The *fire-kindling Titan on the Caucasus.
1884Queen Victoria More Leaves 107 Brown begged I would drink to the *‘fire-kindling’.
c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 369 Som sayd it was long on the *fuyr-makyng. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 228 The art of fire-making.
1690Norris Beatitudes (1692) 178 The business of a *Fire-quencher, who..may..rescue the pile of building from the devouring Flames.
1718J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. (1730) II. xvii. §25 The Pumps in a *Fire-quenching Engine.
1902Science 12 Sept. 424 The treatment of wood with a view of making it *fire-resistant is not a matter of recent years. 1946Nature 19 Oct. 462/2 The treatment of the boards to render them fire-resistant.
1612Sturtevant Metallica (1854) 116 Maintained with such *fier-resisting meanes that it cannot possibly melte or burne down. 1850Chubb Locks & Keys 24 Safes which were sold as fire-resisting.
1915Proc. Nat. Fire Protection Assoc., 19th Ann. Meeting 108 There is nothing new in the idea of treating wood to make it *fire retardant. 1952Dict. Fire Technol. (Inst. Fire Engin.) (Advt.), ‘Faspos’ fire retardants for fireproofing wood. 1961Engineering 6 Oct. 447/2 The properties of bentonite as a fire retardant. 1962Punch 17 Oct. 560/3 A wise pilot dips his overalls in fire-retardant liquid.
1483Cath. Angl. 132/1 A *Fire spewer, igniuomus.
1631T. Fuller David's Heinous Sin xxxix, *Fire-spitting cannons.
1483Cath. Angl. 132/1 A *Fire stryker, fugillator.
1891Daily News 26 Sept. 2/5 Prisoner and Jensen joined the ship..as *fire-trimmers.
1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 235 Any known race of *fire-users.
1862D. Wilson Preh. Man v. (1865) 82 Man is peculiarly *fire-using.
3. a. instrumental, locative, and originative, as fire-baptism; fire-armed, fire-baptized, fire-bellied, fire-born, fire-burning, fire-burnt, fire-clad, † fire-coached, fire-cracked, fire-crowned, fire-footed, fire-gilt, † fire-given, fire-hardened, fire-hoofed, fire-lighted, fire-lipped, fire-lit, fire-marked, fire-mouthed, fire pitted, fire-robed, fire-scarred, fire-scathed, fire-scorched, fire-seamed, fire-shot, fire-swept, fire-tinged, fire-warmed, fire-wheeled, fire-winged, fire-wrought adjs.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. i. Eden 249 A *fire-arm'd Dragon. 1682Dryden & Lee Dk. of Guise iii. i, I'll meet him now, though fire-armed cherubins Should cross my way.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. vii, My Spiritual New-birth, or Baphometic *Fire-baptism.
Ibid. ii. viii, The *fire-baptized soul..here feels its own Freedom.
1892Daily News 5 May 5/4 The little ‘*fire-bellied toad’, of..poisonous properties.
1846R. Chambers Vestiges Creat. vi. (ed. 5) 95 The numerous upbursts and intrusions of *fire-born rock.
c1275Death 216 in O.E. Misc. (1872) 180 Swo he me wule for-swolehen Þe *fur-berninde drake.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 290/86 *Fur⁓barnd he was þoru Iuggemont. 1573Twyne æneid xi. Kk iij, Poales of length firebrent at end.
1615Sylvester Hymne Almes 55 The *Fire-Coacht Prophet.
1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Acharnians iv. ii, It rings With a harsh jar, like *fire-cracked things.
1870Tennyson Window 151 The *fire-crown'd king of the wrens.
1565Golding Ovid's Met. ii. (1593) 39 My *firefooted horse.
1613Chapman Rev. Bussy D'Ambois Plays 1873 II. 148 Hee draue as if a fierce and *fire-giuen Canon Had spit his iron vomit out amongst them.
1627May Lucan iii. 536 (1635) E iij b, Stakes, and *fire harden'd oaks.
1621G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ii. 393 Those *fire-hooft steeds.
1850Lynch Theo. Trin. v. 80 A..*fire-lighted room.
1839Bailey Festus iv. (1848) 33 Mountain, and wood, and wild, and *fire-lipped hill.
1849Miss Mulock Ogilvies (1875) 109 The pleasant *fire-lit room.
1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4114/4 A brown Mare..*fire-marked I.I. in the near Buttock.
1590Spenser F.Q. i. ix, 52 That *fire-mouth'd Dragon.
1759Mountaine in Phil. Trans. LI. 290 The sheets..[were] scorched and *fire-pitted in like manner.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 29 The *Fire-roab'd-God Golden Apollo.
1853Kingsley Hypatia xiii. 147 A doleful *fire-scarred tower.
1848A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 64 Swarthy red, as if *fire-scathed.
a1892Whittier Poet. Works (1898) 309/1 The *fire-scorched stones.
1815Milman Fazio (1821) 79 Thy..*fire-seamed visage.
1927Observer 18 Dec. 19/3 Mr. Richard Goolden's *fire-shot devil.
1898G. B. Shaw Man of Destiny in Plays Pleasant & Unpleasant ii. 155 Napoleon Bonaparte..rushed the *fireswept bridge. 1930Blunden Poems 40 The naked fire-swept windows.
1907Daily Chron. 19 Sept. 4/4 The dark pines..dripped *fire-tinged dews.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xv. 173 Our only *fire-warmed apartment.
1822Milman Martyr of Antioch 121 His *fire-wheel'd throne.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. 656 Then like a Squib it falls, Or *fire-wing'd shaft. 1826Milman A. Boleyn (1827) 41 The fire-wing'd ministers of Heaven's just wrath.
a1892Whittier Poet. Works (1898) 324/2 Its *fire-wrought language. 1905Daily Chron. 9 Dec. 8/1 Mr. Jones's fire-wrought temperament.
b. In names of occupations, processes, etc., carried on by the aid of fire, as † fire-trade; fire-fishing, fire-gilding, fire-offering, fire-polishing, fire-silvering vbl. ns. Also forming verbs, as fire-hollow.
1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 295 Persons employed in *fire-gilding.
1864Tennyson En. Ard. 570 Enoch's comrade..*Fire-hollowing this in Indian fashion, fell Sun-stricken.
c1870J. G. Murphy Comm. Lev. i. 9 A *fire-offering; a firing, or offering made by fire.
1849A. Pellatt Curios. Glass Making 31 By rewarming, technically called *fire polishing, the glass preserves its refractive brilliancy.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. (1657) 63 *Fire-trades, as Smiths, Forge-men [etc.].
4. parasynthetic and similative, as fire-angry, fire-bright, fire-burning, fire-flowing, fire-hearted, fire-like, fire-opalescent, fire-souled, fire-spirited, fire-swift, fire-tongued adjs.
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxii. 476, I am well sure that Charlemagne shall wexe *fyre angry for it.
1916A. Huxley Burning Wheel 15 My *fire-bright window-pane.
1562Cooper Answ. Priv. Masse (Parker Soc.) 66 But your scalding hot and *fireburning charity may be more justly charged with the continuance thereof.
1820Shelley Vis. Sea 19 Like whirlpools of *fire-flowing iron.
1902Westm. Gaz. 24 Feb. 2/3 Each minute *Fire-hearted followed. 1931V. Woolf Waves 319 The watery fire-hearted jewel.
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 56 The Peare tree..is called Pyrus, for that it is in his fashion and kinde of growth, Piramidall or *firelike. 1875Tennyson Q. Mary i. v, I'll have it burnish'd firelike.
1882Myers Renewal of Youth, etc. 94 *Fire-opalescent wilderness!
1876Swinburne Erechth. (ed. 2) 47 Wrath of a *fire-souled king.
1839Bailey Festus xvii. (1848) 159 Things hidden, seen alone by eyes *Fire-spirited.
1876Swinburne Erechth. (ed. 2) 16 *Fire-swift wheels That whirl the four-yoked chariot.
a1892Whittier Poet. Works (1898) 486/2 The *fire-tongued miracle.
II. Special comb.
5. a. fire-action, the action of firing, esp. skirmishing in line; fire-adjuster (see quot.); fire-alarm, (a) an automatic arrangement by which notice of fire is given, also attrib.; (b) N. Amer. a warning of fire; fire-altar, ‘an altar upon which burnt sacrifices were offered, as distinguished from one used for incense only’ (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); † fire-amel, enamel produced by fire; fire-ant (see quots.); fire assay U.S., an assay in which intense heat is applied to a material; fire-back, (a) the back wall of a furnace or fire-place; (b) a pheasant of the genus Euplocamus (E. ignitus); hence fire-backed adj. (Cent. Dict.); fire-balloon, a balloon whose buoyancy is derived from the heat of a flaming combustible suspended at its mouth; fire-bank (see quot.); fire-bar, one of the iron bars of a grate or of a boiler furnace; fire-barrel, a cylinder filled with combustibles, used in fire-ships; fire-bay Mil., a trench with a concealed parapet from which firing takes place; fire-beater (for -beeter: see beet v. II) dial., a stoker; fire-bill (see quot.); fire-blast, a disease of certain plants, giving them a scorched appearance; fire-blight, (a) a disease of hops; (b) (chiefly U.S.), a bacterial disease affecting (esp. pear and apple) trees, producing a scorched appearance of the leaves; fire-blitz, an air attack with incendiary bombs; so fire-blitzed ppl. a.; fire-board, (a) a board used to close up a fireplace in summer, a chimney board; (b) (see quot. 1883); fire-boat = fire-ship 1; fire-bolt, a thunderbolt; hence fire-bolted adj., struck with lightning; fire-bomb, an incendiary bomb; hence as v. trans., to attack or destroy with these bombs; also fire-bombing vbl. n.; † fire-bome (? bome = bomb n. 1), a beacon; fire-boom Naut. (see quot. 1867); fire-boss (N. Amer.) Mining (see quot.; cf. fireman 5); fire-bottle, an early application of phosphorus for the purpose of fire-lighting; fire-break orig. N. Amer., an obstacle to the spread of (grass or forest) fires, as cleared or ploughed land; also fig.; fire-brick, a brick capable of withstanding intense heat without fusion, also attrib.; fire-bridge (see quot. 1874); † fire-brief, a circular letter asking assistance for sufferers by fire; fire-brigade, an organized body of firemen; also fig.; † fire-broil, the heat of a conflagration; fire-bug (U.S.), an incendiary; † fire-cane (see quot. 1644); fire-cask, a cask of water, provided as a resource against fire on board ship; fire certificate, a certificate issued by a local authority, confirming that the current statutory fire precautions have been complied with at the premises inspected; fire-chamber (see quot.); † fire-chemise (see quot.); fire-churn = fire-drill; fire-clay, a clay capable of resisting great heat, used for fire-bricks, etc.; fire-club, † (a) a kind of firework; (b) U.S. a club of firemen (?); fire-cock, a cock or spout to give water to extinguish a fire; † fire-coffer, a kind of fireship; fire-company, (a) a fire-brigade; (b) a fire insurance company; fire-control, the regulation or control of the fire of guns (esp. in batteries); also, the station from which a commanding or gunnery officer may exercise such control; fire-crack, a crack formed by heat, spec. in metal when it is being reheated or annealed; hence fire-cracking vbl. n.; fire-crome = fire-hook a; fire-crook = fire-hook; fire-cure v. trans., to cure (tobacco or leather) over a fire; hence fire-cured ppl. a., fire-curing vbl. n.; fire-curtain, (a) a fire-proof curtain in a theatre, etc.; (b) Mil. = curtain n.1 3 b; fire-department, (a) the department in an insurance office which deals with insurances against fire; (b) U.S. a body of firemen; fire-discipline Mil., the training of men to fire exactly as directed by the commander, so that the work of a unit is co-ordinated; fire-dog = andiron; † fire-dragon = fire-drake; fire-drill, (a) the name given by Tylor to a primitive contrivance, consisting of an obtuse-pointed stick which is twirled between the hands with the point in a hole in a flat piece of soft wood till fire is produced; hence fire-drilling vbl. n.; (b) the rehearsal of action to be taken in the event of fire; fire dropper, a man who removes the fire from the fire-box of a locomotive at the end of a journey; fire-edge, lit. the edge of a weapon hardened in the fire; hence fig. (now only dial.) fire, spirit, ‘freshness’; fire-escape, an apparatus for facilitating the escape of persons from a building on fire; fire-fan, (a) a small hand fire-screen (obs.); (b) (see quot. 1874); fire-fiend, (a) fire personified as an evil spirit of destruction; (b) a fire-god; (c) an incendiary (colloq.); fire-fight Mil., the struggle to establish fire superiority over the enemy; † fire-fit a., fit for burning; fire-flag, (a) a meteoric flame; (b) a flag of distress, when a ship is on fire; fire-flair, the sting-ray, Trygon Pastinaca or Raia Pastinaca; † fire-flyer, a kind of firework; fire-free a., safe from fire, fire-proof; fire-grappling, a grappling iron with which to capture fireships; fire-guard, (a) a wire frame or semicircular railing put in front of a fireplace, to keep children or others from accidental injury; also a grating placed before the bars of a fire to prevent the coals from falling out; (b) N. Amer. a member of a fire-brigade or fire-watching group; (c) N. Amer. = fire-break; fire-guard v. trans., to surround (land) with a fire-guard (c); fire hall N. Amer., a fire station; fire-hat U.S., a hat for a fireman; fire-hole, (a) a furnace; (b) (see quot. 1835); † fire-hoop, a hoop made of brushwood steeped in tar, etc., set on fire and thrown into an enemy's ship; fire-hose, a hose-pipe for conveying water to a fire; fire-insurance, insurance against losses by fire; also attrib.; fire-isle, a volcanic island; fire-junk, a kind of fireship; fire-king, (a) fire personified as a monarch; (b) a champion fire-eater; fire-lamp, Mining, a basket of burning coals used (a) to give light to banksmen where gas is not used, (b) to create a draught; fire-lighter, (a) one who kindles a fire; (b) material for lighting fires; fire-line = fire-break; fire-lute, a composition or lute capable of resisting great heat; fire-maker, one who lights or makes fire or a fire; fire-marble, Min. = lumachella; fire-mark, the mark left by a branding-iron; fire-measure = pyrometer; fire-money, a payment for firing at school; † fire-night, a night round the fire-side; fire-opal, a variety of opal showing flame-coloured internal reflections; fire-piece, (a) = fire-arm; (b) a picture having as its subject a fire; fire-pile, a pile of wood on which a person is burnt to death, or a corpse is cremated; fire-piston, a device for making fire (see quot. 1951); fire-plough (see quots.); fire-plug, a contrivance for connecting a hose, or the supply-pipe of a fire-engine, with a water-main in case of fire; fire-policy, the official certificate received from an insurance office, guaranteeing the payment of a certain sum in the case of loss of property by fire; fire-porr, fire-prong dial., a poker; fire position Mil., a position from which fire is opened by an attacking force during an advance; fire-power Mil., the total effectiveness of the fire of guns, missiles, etc., of a military force; fire-raft, a raft for setting an enemy's shipping on fire; fire-raid, an air-raid with incendiary bombs; fire-ranger N. Amer., an official who keeps watch against the occurrence of forest fires; fire-risk, (a) the risk of loss by fire; (b) the obligation of a fire-insurance company to make good loss by fire; (c) property insured against fire; fire-roll (Naut.), a peculiar beat of the drum on an alarm of fire; fire-room, (a) a room containing a fire-place; (b) a furnace-room of a building or stokehold of a ship; † fire-salt a., pungently salt; fire-setting, the softening or cracking of the working-face of a lode, to facilitate excavation, by exposing it to a wood fire built close against it (Raymond Mining Gloss.); † fire-snort a., sending forth fire through the nose; fire-spout, a jet of volcanic fire (cf. waterspout); fire-sprit (dial.) = fire-brand; † fire-spy, one who is on the look out for a fire; fire station, the headquarters of a fire brigade, housing fire engines, etc.; fire-steel (see quot.): fire-step = firing-step; fire-stick, (a) a burning brand; (b) = fire-drill; (c) an implement used for stirring up a fire; fire-stink, Mining (see quot. 1881); fire-stop, a device designed to stop the spread of fire; spec. incombustible material placed in the open parts of a structure; fire-storm, (a) poet., a storm of fire; (b) spec. a high wind or storm following a conflagration caused by incendiary or nuclear bombs; fire-swab (Naut.), the wet bunch of rope-yarn used to cool a gun in action and swab up any grains of powder; fire-swallower, one who entertains by swallowing or pretending to swallow fire; fire-swart a., † (a) blackening with fire; (b) blackened by fire; fire-syringe, a piston and cylinder employed to produce combustion by means of the heat resulting from the compression of air; fire-teazer, a stoker; fire-tile, a tile capable of resisting great heat; fire-tower, (a) a tower with a beacon on its top, serving the purpose of a light-house; (b) a watch-tower to guard against fires in towns; fire-trace = fire-break; fire-trap, a place with insufficient means of egress in case of fire; fire-tree, (a) a kind of firework; (b) = flame-tree; (c) in New Zealand the Metrosideros tomentosa (Cent. Dict.); fire-trench Mil., a deep and narrow trench from which firing takes place; † fire-trunk, (a) a kind of projectile or ‘fire-work’; (b) Naut. (see quots.); fire-tube, a pipe-flue; fire-vessel, (a) a receptacle for fire, a fire-pan; (b) = fire-ship; fire-walk, the ceremony of walking barefoot over hot stones, performed as a religious rite by the Fijians and others, and formerly as an ordeal in European countries; so fire-walker, -walking; fire-wall orig. U.S., a fireproof wall to prevent the spreading of fire; fire-ward, = fire-warden (a); fire-warden, (a) U.S. the chief officer of a fire-brigade; (b) N. Amer., an official concerned with the prevention or extinction of fires; fire-watcher, (a) one who tends a fire; (b) one who is engaged in fire-watching; fire-watching vbl. n., keeping on the alert, esp. at night, to watch for and report the occurrence or spread of fires, esp. those caused by aerial bombardment; hence fire-watch v. intr., † fire-waterwork, the name given by the Marquess of Worcester to a rude steam-engine which he invented; fire-well (see quot.); † fire-wheel, a kind of fire-work, a catherine-wheel; fire-wind = fire-storm (b); fire-woman, a woman member of a fire brigade; fire-worm, (a) = fire-fly; (b) a glow-worm; fire-wreath = fire-hoop; fire-zone, an area swept by gunfire.
1875Clery Min. Tact. ix. 100 *Fire-action was the actual means of victory.
1882Sala Amer. Revis. (1885) 229 note, A ‘*Fire Adjuster’ is a gentleman..who is continually..‘adjusting’ claims for losses by fire.
1849Mech. Mag. LI. 425 A difficulty which has proved fatal to all our *fire alarms. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 849/2 Fire-alarm Telegraph. 1876Wide Awake (Boston, Mass.) Apr. 262/1 The three churchbells that give the fire alarm. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 7 Apr. 9/4 Fire Chief Parkin reported the department had answered four fire alarms during the month of March.
1926‘M. Leinster’ Dew on Leaf 30 *Fire-altar wreathed in clouds of incense. 1935Burlington Mag. Jan. 30/1 The fire-altar on the coinage of the later Kushan princelings.
1423Jas. I Kingis Q. xlviii, Hir nek, quhite as the *fyre amaille.
1796Stedman Surinam II. xx. 91 Small emmets, called here *fire-ants, from their painful biting. 1863Bates Nat. Amazon ix. (1864) 241 Fire-ants (formiga de fogo) under the floors.
1869C. L. Brace New West 167 Mills..guarantee 75 per cent. returns on the *fire assay.
1847Rep. Comm. Patents 1846 (U.S.) 249 The *fire-backs of fireplaces have been made separate. 1862Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist., Birds 613 The very handsome Fireback is an Asiatic bird, inhabiting Sumatra. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 862/1 Fire-back.
1822J. Imison Sc. & Art I. 170 *Fire-balloons, or those raised by heated air. 1847Tennyson Princ. Prol. 74 A fire-balloon Rose gem-like. 1888J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge ix, A fire-balloon which he had sent up on a Guy Fawkes' Day.
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, *Fire-bank, a spoil-bank which takes fire spontaneously.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 13 A course sort of Iron..fit for *Fire-bars. 1844Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. III. 312 The fuel is spread over a large surface of fire-bar [in a furnace]. 1881F. Campin Mech. Engineering xii. 168 At a are fire-bars forming the grate.
1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4082/3 Throwing down *Fire-Barrels.
1917Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 174/1 They look for the *firebays, which are, of course, on the German side. 1940J. Brophy Home Guard 64 In a fire-trench, to be manned with rifles and machine-guns, the sections facing the expected advance of the enemy are known as fire-bays.
1883Manch. Guardian 17 Oct. 5/2 A determined attempt was made by a *firebeater..to murder his wife.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Fire-bill, the distribution of the officers and crew in the case of the alarm of fire.
1727Desaguliers in Phil. Trans. XXXIV. 269 *Fire-Blasts..may be occasion'd by Solar Rays reflected from, or condens'd by Clouds. 1824Forsyth Fruit Trees xxvii. 373 This is what is called a fire-blast.
1750Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. i. vi. 74 They [hops] are subject to the..*Fire-blight, and the Mould or Dwindle. 1817W. Coxe View Cult. Fruit Trees 175 The fire blight frequently destroys [pear] trees. 1869Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. VII. 503 There are several distinct diseases, all grouped together under the general name of ‘Fire Blight’. 1958New Scientist 20 Nov. 1301/1 The recent outbreak of Fire Blight in this country is alarming... It is caused by a bacterium, Erwinia amylovora, that usually attacks the fruit trees in the spring.
1941A. O. Pollard Bombers over Reich vi. 64 This total of fire-bombs seemed to be the mark, in Nazi eyes, of a super ‘*fire-blitz’.
1940Daily Express 31 Dec., The *fireblitzed area.
a1828D. Wordsworth Tour Continent in Jrnls. (1941) II. 316 She replied ‘Oh Madame! you will soon be warm here!’ taking down a *fire-board. 1855H. Clarke Dict., Fire-board, chimney-board. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, Fire-board, a piece of board with the word fire painted upon it..to caution men and lads not to take a naked light beyond it. 1885A. T. Slosson in Harper's Mag. Apr. 804/1 There was a..fire-place, but it was closed by a fire-board.
1826M. W. Shelley Last man II. ii. 51 *Fire-boats were launched from the various ports.
1583Stanyhurst æneis, etc. (Arb.) 137 A clapping *fyerbolt (such as oft, with rownce robel hobble, Ioue toe the ground clattreth). 1832Bryant Hurricane 37 As the fire-bolts leap to the world below.
1839Bailey Festus (1848) 16/2 The root of oak *firebolted.
1895G. Griffith Outlaws of Air xxiii. 207 The conflagration that his *fire-bombs had started. 1940Flight 24 Oct. 339/2 Many fire-bombs were dropped, as well as high explosives. 1970Guardian 14 May 2/4 More than twenty buildings have been fire-bombed.
1966Economist 30 July 442/3 The disorders were mostly confined to the hit-and-run *fire-bombing..and to isolated shooting incidents. 1969K. Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five v. 87 The greatest massacre in European history..was the fire-bombing of Dresden.
c1440Promp. Parv. 29 Beekne or *fyre⁓bome, far (pharus P.).
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), In which sense it [boute dehors] is usually called *fire-boom. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fire-booms, long spars swung out from a ship's side to prevent the approach of fire-ships..or vessels accidentally on fire.
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, *Fire-bosses (U.S.A.), underground officials who examine the mine for gas, and inspect every safety-lamp taken into the colliery. 1898‘R. Connor’ Black Rock 87 Mr. Shaw, fire-boss of the mines. 1955J. S. Gowland Smoke over Sikanaska x. 180 There's a Greek who used to be a fire boss in the mine.
1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 122 A most useful application of phosphorus..is the art of making the *fire bottle, that affords immediate light.
1841Newfoundland Ho. Assembly Jrnl. App. 178 The lane opposite Messrs. Codner & Jennings's *firebreak. 1885Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 26 Sept. 4/1 Fears are entertained for the safety of the town, and teams are out plowing fire-breaks around it. 1930Billis & Kenyon Pastures New viii. 120 Large areas of grass were often saved by burning fire-breaks..round extensive sections of good grass land. 1934Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Oct. 20/3 Doesn't ‘T. T.’ know that a firebreak is always burnt against the wind? 1935Discovery Mar. 64/1 Fire-breaks are..left open in the new plantations. 1959Economist 31 Jan. 391/1 Independence behind a firebreak of Belgian..paternalism. 1965H. A. Kissinger Probl. Nat. Strategy vi. 120 His [sc. A. C. Enthoven's] basic argument is that the most reliable ‘fire break’ is between conventional and nuclear weapons and that once that threshold is crossed, rapid escalation is probable.
1793Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts IV. 123 Let the whole of the cylinder..be lined with *fire bricks. 1865Daily Tel. 21 Oct. 5/1 The fire-brick footway.
1854Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. I. 263 Admitting a current of air behind, or through the *fire-bridge. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 862/2 Fire-bridge, a plate or wall at the back of the furnace to..prevent the fuel being carried over.
a1643W. Cartwright On the Great Frost 51 We laugh at *fire-Briefs now, although they be Commended to us by his Majesty.
1838Penny Cycl. X. 279 Within a few years the firemen belonging to the different insurance companies in London have been formed into a body—the *Fire Brigade. 1959Daily Tel. 10 Apr. 19/2 S.E.A.T.O. will probably get the ‘fire brigade’ that Asian members have so long been calling for.
1583Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 75 Then my holye domesticall housgods, In last nights *fyrebroyls, that from Troy skorched I saulued.
1872O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. i. (1885) 7 Political *firebugs we call 'em. 1883Pall Mall G. 6 Sept. 12/1 It is believed there exists an organized band of ‘firebugs’. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Sept. 719/2 An even more elusive foe of the fire office than petrol is ‘the cold-blooded fire-bug’ who trades in arson. 1962Punch 14 Mar. 439/1 Robert Morley as a dedicated firebug is notable.
1644Digby 2 Treat. i. xvii. 147 Indian canes (..called *firecanes), being rubbed with some other sticke of the same nature,..will of themselues sett on fire. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy I. Pref., They bring home nothing but firecanes, parots, and Monkies.
1804A. Duncan Mariner's Chron. III. 101 The only article we now wanted was water. I recollected the *fire-cask in the mizen-chains.
[1891Factory & Workshop Act 54 & 55 Vict. c. 75 §7(1) Every factory of which the construction is commenced after the first day of January [1892], and in which more than forty persons are employed, shall be furnished with a certificate from the sanitary authority of the district..that the factory is provided..above the ground floor with such means of escape in case of fire for the persons employed therein as can reasonably be required. ]1963Offices, Shops & Railway Premises Act c. 41 §29(1) A certificate (hereinafter in this Act referred to as a ‘*fire certificate’) issued..by the appropriate authority..that the premises are provided with such means of escape in case of fire for the persons employed to work therein..as may reasonably be required. 1985Financial Times 10 Apr. iv. 20 The need for a fire certificate and meeting planning requirements impose another set of demands.
1847Rep. Comm. Patents 1846 (U.S.) 211, I also claim the air passage below the *fire chamber. 1859Rankine Steam Engine §303 In the External Furnace Boiler, the furnace or fire-chamber is wholly outside of..the water vessel or boiler. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 863/1 Fire-chamber (Puddling), the chamber at the end of the puddling-furnace.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Chemise, *Fire-Chemise is a piece of linen cloth, steeped in a composition of..combustible matters; used at sea, to set fire to the enemy's vessel.
1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 253 Churning fiercely at the *fire-churn.
1819Rees Cycl. s.v., A very excellent *fire-clay. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 309 The radiating power of the small barrack grate is aided..by a fireclay back.
1634J. Bate Myst. Nat. & Art ii. 92 The description and making of two sorts of *Fire-clubs. 1826Cushing Newburyport Pref., The fire-clubs and engine societies [of the town]. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Cockayne Wks. (Bohn) II. 67 To carry the boisterous dulness of a fire-club into a polite circle.
1707Act 6 Anne c. 58 §1 To the Intent such Plugs or *Fire Cocks may always upon Occasion of any Fire be opened. 1844Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. III. 318 In enclosed premises..firecocks are much to be preferred [to plugs].
1804Naval Chron. XII. 331 Four *Fire-coffers filled with combustibles.
1744Penna. Gaz. 14 Dec. 4/2 The Union *Fire-Company of Philadelphia. 1792Fayetteville (N.C.) Gaz. 16 Oct., Proposals from the Maryland Insurance Fire-company. 1832Webster, Fire-company, a company of men for managing an engine to extinguish fire. 1835Southern Lit. Messenger I. 259 The remaining expenses are on account of the public markets, fire companies, salaries of officers, [etc.]. 1880Harper's Mag. July 208/2 Several of the members belonged to the volunteer fire-companies, then in the height of their glory. 1915Cincinnati Ann. Rep. 1914 343 Temporary quarters have been provided for Fire Company No. 54.
1886J. H. A. Macdonald Common Sense on Parade 118 What is wanted is the conviction in the mind of every instructor..that his men should never leave a parade without having gained something in fire discipline,—that is, that *fire control drill be one of the main points in view as a necessary part of the work to be performed on every occasion when men are being drilled, [etc.]. 1907Westm. Gaz. 3 May 7/1 Stand on the deck amidships, look up at the vast tripod which supports the fire-control. a1928in C. F. S. Gamble N. Sea Air Station (1928) xv. 241, I had a very pleasant minute or so wondering which I was going to hit—the wireless masts or the monitor's fire-control top. 1935Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXIX. 875 Thirty diagrams illustrate problems of fire control arising out of attacks by fighter formations on light bombing formations.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. x. 12 Cliff's patent enamelled clay retort is..adapted for the use of gas works, by its..freedom from *fire-cracks. 1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 147/2 The Influence of Bismuth on Brass, and its Relation to Fire-Cracks. 1959Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CXCIII. 388/3 It is shown that thermal stresses were responsible for the appearance of fire-cracks.
1923Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics V. 424/2 This ‘*fire-cracking’ can be entirely prevented by a previous heat treatment at a much lower temperature. 1960D. J. O. Brandt Manuf. Iron & Steel (ed. 2) iv. xxix. 221 Fire-cracking, that is, the development of a series of little crazy cracks on the surface caused by alternate heating and cooling.
1846*Fire-croom [see crome, cromb n.]. 1899Athenæum 2 Sept. 329/2 The head of a great fire-hook or fire-crome was noted.
a1668Davenant Seige Rhodes (1673) 20 The *Fire-crooks are too short!
1899Atlantic Monthly LXXXIII. 758/2 The pliant sandals of *fire-cured skin. 1900Rep. U.S. Dept. Agric. lxv. 34 Tobaccos that have been fire-cured, as the plug tobaccos. 1962Times 12 Oct. (Standard Bank Suppl.) p. vii/3 Dark fire-cured tobacco.
1848Rep. Comm. Patents 1847 (U.S.) 170 *Fire-curing is not necessary. 1912P. McKeon Fire Prevention 153 The proscenium arch has a *fire curtain.
1932G. B. Shaw Emperor & Little Girl in Wks. VI. 15 These curtains..were really shells, showers of bombshells... They were called fire curtains. 1940War Illustr. 19 Jan. 620/1 Two great steel fire-curtains..can be dropped in a few seconds to subdivide each of the hangars where the machines are housed thus localizing any fire outbreak.
1855H. Clarke Dict., *Fire department, body of firemen.
1886*Fire discipline [see fire-control]. 1897Cavalry Tactics xvii. 121 Fire discipline must be strictly enforced, both to ensure accurate shooting at the indicated object and to control the ammunition expenditure. 1923Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 11 Our fire-discipline, as we fell back, gave them the impression that the forest was filled with machine-guns.
1792Massachusetts Spy 1 Mar. 3/1 [He] caught a *fire-dog, which he threw with such force that he knocked down one of the ruffians. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge x, The fire-dogs in the common room.
1556Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 3 In the ayre was sene *fyere draggons and sprettes flyenge.
1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 228 The use of the *fire-drill. 1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 13 Apr. 20/1 Chief Davis submitted a report on the time occupied by the children in fire drill in clearing the school houses. 1913J. Vaizey College Girl xviii. 264 [It's] the fire drill! They've had an alarm, and she's told to shut off draughts. 1959C. V. Good Dict. Educ. 230/1 Fire drill, practice in the systematic, safe evacuation of the children and teachers..upon the sounding of the fire alarm.
1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 237 It comes much nearer than ‘*fire-drilling’ to the yet simpler process of striking fire with two pieces of split bamboo.
1898L'pool Weekly Courier 9 Apr. 2/7 He was a *fire dropper—drawing the fires from locomotives.
1614Markham Cheap Husb. i. ii. (1668) 29 [To put a horse to these lessons] after his *fireedge is taken away, will but bring him to a loathing of his instruction. a1684Leighton Comm. 1 Pet. (ed. Valpy) 388 Blunt that fire-edge upon your own hard..hearts. 1878Cumberld. Gloss., ‘He gallop't his laal nag till t' fire edge was off.’
1788Specif. Dufour's Patent No. 1652. 1 A Machine called a *Fire escape. 1832Examiner 678/1 They..rush to the fire-escapes.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Fire-fanns, little Hand-Skreens for the Fire. 1706Collier Refl. Ridic. 43 They praise..the Fire-Fan that is offer'd them. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 867/2 Fire-fan, a small blast apparatus adapted to a portable forge.
1815Moore Lalla R. (1817) 251 'Tis he..The fellest of the *Fire-fiends' brood.
1899Westm. Gaz. 23 Nov. 2/1 The excitement of a *fire-fight at short ranges. 1968Listener 26 Dec. 871/2 One savage, roaring, banging, howling ‘fire-fight’.
1595Chapman Ovid's Banq. Sence C j b, That lye like *fire-fit blocks.
1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. vi, A hundred *fire-flags sheen. 1879Ann. Reg. 22 The red ensign reversed (fire-flag) was run up.
a1705Ray Syn. Method. Piscium (1713) 24 Pastinaca marina..the *Fire-Flaire. 1861J. Couch Brit. Fishes (1862) I. 74 The Torpedo and Fire flair have soft and sweet flesh.
1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 30 Charges for *fire-flyers and wheels.
1650Fuller Pisgah ii. v. 122 So *firefree they could not be burned.
1853Sir H. Douglas Milit. Bridges (ed. 3) 111 Light boats were constantly kept in readiness, with *fire-grapplings, to meet and anchor anything that might be drifted down the stream.
1833Niles' Reg. XLIV. 259/2 There were twenty-three engine and hose companies,..and four divisions of *fire guards. 1852Burn Nav. & Mil. Tech. Fr. Dict. ii. 96 Fire-guard. 1874J. C. McCoy Hist. Sk. 217 An impassable barrier would be created between the unburned grass within the encircled tract, and that upon the outside of the ‘fire-guard’. Ibid., A large adjacent tract of land..will be ‘fire-guarded’, in order to secure a winter range from the ravages of prairie fires. 1912Fire-guard [see back-fire v. 1]. 1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 15 July 7/1 It was stated that the fire on the southwest side of the river was practically under control, while a fire guard had been placed between the fire zone and the city watershed. 1963R. D. Symons Many Trails 40 The smoky air..choked us as we feverishly plowed fire-guards.
1881A. Begg Gt. Canad. North West 103 A handsome *fire hall centrally located. 1966Kingston (Ont.) Whig-Standard 26 Jan. 6/3 Council decided to increase the insurance on the fire hall.
1851C. Cist Cincinnati 213 George E. Minister..makes..*fire hats.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 362 The *fire-hole, or furnace. 1835Sir J. C. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. Explan. Terms p. xvi, Fire-hole, a hole in the ice, kept open in order to obtain water to extinguish fire. 1876Davis Polaris Exp. ix. 217 The crew..had been employed in..keeping the fire-hole open.
1585Higins Junius' Nomenclator 279 Malleoli..*fire hoopes. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fire-hoops.
1883Century Mag. XXVII. 33 The stream might have played, like a *fire-hose, on the Toll House roof.
1822Lond. Directory 6 Norwich Union *fire-insurance Society. 1858Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law vii. 45 A word of advice about your Fire Insurance.
1818Shelley Rev. Islam vii. viii. 8 From the *fire-isles came he.
1884Chr. World 28 Aug. 641/3 The burning gunboats and *fire-junks.
1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 101 The Birmingham *Fire-king has visited the fabulous East. 1861Leisure H. 17 Oct. 661 Thus aided [by the wind], the fire-king marched victoriously from east to west. 1876Chamb. Jrnl. 11 Nov. 733 The fire-king devoured flaming brimstone by way of dessert. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, *Fire-lamp.
1779Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. (1780) 127/1 Will..the Clerks, or even the *fire-lighter come to prove it? 1853Geo. Eliot Let. 5 Nov. (1954) II. 123 Will you..send me the address of the London agent for the Firelighters? 1897Daily News 4 June 8/2 Firelighters, specially prepared,..to light all the bonfires throughout the country. 1957Times 9 Sept. 11/5 New-fangled, oil-soaked, ‘fire-lighters’ and suchlike meretricious aids are nothing but barefaced cheating.
1902A. C. Laut Story Trapper (1912) 147 The game..must be moving away from the *fire line. 1905Terms Forestry & Logging 10 Fire line, a strip kept clear of inflammable material as a protection against the spread of forest fire. 1927W. H. Todd Tiger, Tiger! 108, I walked down a jungle ride, or fire line. 1953Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. I. 53 Fire line, (a) the portion of a control line or fire trace from which inflammable materials have been removed... (b) A clear felled permanent firebreak..[Ind]. (c) A line round an active fire..to..control it [Can].
1758Elaboratory laid open Introd. 51 The *fire-lute.
1710Palmer Proverbs 61 Even from the *fire-makers and necessary-women, to the groom of the stole. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 228 The wide-spread legends of first fire-makers.
1816W. Phillips Min. (1818) 97 It has obtained the name of *Fire marble.
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal 253 What learns his Son, who does..*Fire-marks, and Country-jails with joy admire? 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2571/4 Lost..a brown Gelding..a Flower-de-luce Fire mark on the near Hip.
1833N. Arnott Physics II. 115 The apparatus has been called Wedgewood's Pyrometer, or *fire-measure.
1721in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 74 All gratuities..such as entrance money, cockpenny, *fire money, and quarteridge.
1653Noctes Hibernæ i. 3 Some have learned more of their Teacher..on a *fire-night, than sitting at the desk all day.
1816R. Jameson Char. Min. I. 238 Third Sub-species, *Fire Opal.
1738[G. Smith] Curious Relat. II. 358 Twenty-seven Foresters, with *Fire-Pieces in their Arms. 1775J. Wright Let. in Athenæum 10 July (1886) 56/3 A report that I paint fire-pieces admirably.
1664H. More Myst. Iniq. xv. 167 Multitudes..martyred..either at one common *fire-pyle, or else in barns and dwelling-houses. 1863Blackw. Mag. Sept. 292 Hercules..who has ascended from the fire-pile to the Nectar Hall of Olympus.
1920Brit. Mus. Return 64 A *fire-piston of buffalo horn from the Kachin, Upper Burma. 1951N. & Q. Anthropol. (ed. 6) iii. 240 The fire-piston depends for its working on the development of heat by the sudden compression of air in a confined space.
1893Funk's Stand. Dict., *Fire-plow. 1934E. Eyre European Civilisation I. i. 39 The methods of fire-making in use are: the fire-plough (the rubbing up and down of a piece of hard wood in a groove of soft timber), which may well be the oldest device of its kind. 1955Antiquity XXIX. 132 In the fire-plough a pointed stick is rubbed vigorously along a groove or depression in a piece of wood laid flat on the ground.
1713Lond. Gaz. No. 5116/11 Scarcity of Water, occasion'd by the want of *Fire-Plugs in the Street. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xx, The pony looked with great attention into a fire-plug which was near him.
1855Ogilvie Suppl., *Fire-policy.
1558Inv. R. Hyndmer in Wills & Inv. (Surtees) 162 A *fyer porre, a payre of tonges [etc.]. 1855Whitby Gloss., Fire-porr.
1905Westm. Gaz. 15 May 4/1 Cavalry could do next to nothing, and artillery could seldom find really effective *fire-positions. Ibid. 13 June 3/1 The most favourable spot for your individual fire-position.
1913R. Meinertzhagen Army Diary 6 Oct. (1960) 55 What I should have liked to see is more automatic *fire-power in the hands of both the battalion commander and the company commander. 1928Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 12/4 The greatest possible strength of fire-power—from guns and machine guns—should be concentrated rapidly on one part of the front only. 1955Bull. Atomic Sci. Mar. 94/1 The authors readily admit that the tactical A-bomb has grave limitations, yet they feel that it grants us superior firepower to counter the conventional strength of the Soviets. 1967New Scientist 17 Aug. 328/1 A lieutenant colonel of the Viet⁓cong..confessed himself unimpressed by the white men's mobility in jungle conditions, but he had no doubts about the effectiveness of their firepower.
1568Inventory W. Strickland in Richmond Wills & Inv. (Surtees) 222 A *fyer pronge.
1776T. Jefferson Lett. Writ. 1893 II. 83 One of the two *fire-rafts..grappled the Phoenix ten minutes. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 52 To..destroy any armed boats or fire-rafts they might meet with.
1945Daily Tel. 20 July, Over 600 of the giant bombers visited four cities, including Hitachi, with *fire raids. 1960Koestler Lotus & Robot ii. vi. 177 The two conventional fire-raids on Tokyo, earlier in the same year, had claimed another 100,000 victims.
1909A. D. Cameron New North 82 The *Fire-Ranger of the district..has his barley and rice spread out on sheeting. 1920Outing June 137/2 If you discover a fire, put it out if possible. If you cannot, get word to the nearest U.S. Fire Ranger or State Fire Warden. 1928Daily Express 29 Aug. 2/5 The British Columbia fire ranger, whose lookout station is on Mount Cartier, 9,000 feet above sea level.
1865Atlantic Monthly XV. 86 Joint-stock companies for the underwriting of *fire-risks. 1867C. J. Bunyon Law of Fire Insurance iii. 40 Gasworks are esteemed a fire risk of special hazard. 1907Install. News Mar. 7/1 The Gunpowder Manufactory at Minden, where Simplex Screwed Conduits have been used because of the fire risk. 1966Lancet 24 Dec. 1405/2 Little is known of the fire-risks to man in oxygen-rich environments.
1830Marryat King's Own lii, He desired the ‘*fire-roll’ to be beat by the drummer.
1632Inventory 9 Apr. in M. W. Barley Eng. Farmhouse & Cottage (1961) App. 278 Itim in the Chamber over the *fire roume a trundle bedstedle. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scotl. (1806) III. 123 One wing of a new castle..in which there are between fifty and sixty fire-rooms. 1836Southern Lit. Messenger II. 734 Passing the fire-room, where they were just firing up, I stopped. 1880Harper's Mag. Oct. 793 Yet even on the Seawanhaka it appears that the fireroom..was unprotected. 1903A. H. Lewis Boss i. 8 As for a bed, if it should be summer time, what should be finer than the docks? Or if winter, than the fire-rooms of the tugs?
1650Fuller Pisgah ii. xii. 246 Partly because the water hereof was salt with a witness, *fire-salt, as I may say.
1611Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Schisme 629 The *fire-snort Palfreys.
1794Sullivan View Nat. II. 184 Three *fire-spouts broke out. 1811W. J. Hooker Iceland (1813) II. 128 Several fire-spouts were distinctly seen.
1848C. Brontë J. Eyre (1857) 267, I have seen what a *fire-sprit you can be when you are indignant.
1676C. Hatton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 141 One of my Ld Craven's *fire-spyes.
1877Fireman June 2/1 (heading) The new metropolitan central *fire station. 1979N. Wallington Fireman! 15 A world that normally lies hidden behind the closed doors of a fire station until suddenly they crash open and one or two bright-red appliances emerge.
1585Higins Junius' Nomenclator 244 Igniarium..a *fire-steele wherewith to strike fire out of a flint.
1916War Illustrated 23 Dec. 449/1 Bill got upon the *fire-step, placed his rifle against the wall, [etc.]. 1954W. Faulkner Fable (1955) 54 Two British privates were resting on the firestep of a frontline trench.
c1300Havelok 966 Was it nouth worth a *fir sticke. 1587Golding De Mornay xi. 158 The babe, who thinkes his Nurce does him wrong..when sometimes shee plucks a firestick from him. 1794–6E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) I. 30 If a fire-stick be whirled round in the dark. 1833C. Sturt Exped. S. Australia I. iii. 105 Several carried fire-sticks. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. ix. 238 For many years, flint and steel could not drive it [the fire-drill] out of use among the natives, who went on carrying every man his fire-sticks. 1896J. C. Harris Sister Jane 100 Sister Jane, armed with a fire-stick (a heavy piece of metal weighing four or five pounds)..was..making an effort to get to the door. 1900Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst. (Nat. Mus.) 180 In the same plate are included a pair of wooden fire sticks or tongs [of the Tulare Indians].
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Fire-stink, the stench from decomposing iron pyrites, caused by the formation of sulphuretted hydrogen.
1897F. C. Moore How to build Home 7 The ceiling should be plastered on metallic lathing. This will be an effectual *fire-stop in case of fire starting in the cellar. 1926C. E. Mulford Cassidy's Protégé iv. 41 The farms he had dreamed of were now no more than memories, their boundary furrows and fire-stops rank with triumphant bunchgrass.
1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 478 Helias..was taken vp into Heauen in a *fire storme. 1905Westm. Gaz. 13 May 6/2 Glowing embers as it were of the fire-storm [i.e., a grass fire]. 1945in Amer. Speech (1951) XXVI. 236/2 These storms soon combined in an immense ‘fire storm’ (high winds blowing inwards toward the center of a large conflagration) similar to those caused by ordinary mass incendiary raids. 1959Times 26 June 11/2 Nearly half of these could be expected to die instantly, killed by blast or incinerated in the fire-storms caused by the explosions.
1855Ogilvie Suppl., *Fire-swab.
1924A. Huxley Little Mexican 57 Fat women, *fire-swallowers, elastic men. 1932‘R. Crompton’ William—the Pirate vi. 134 ‘My hubby's just gone to have a drink with the fire swallower,’ continued Mrs. Tom Thumb.
a1000Crist 984 (Gr.) Færeð æfter foldan *fyrswearta leᵹ. a1849W. Taylor in Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. IV. 93 Thy shatter'd fire-swart hall.
1863Tyndall Heat i. 13 The *fire syringe.
1827Westm. Rev. VII. 279 The..*fire-teazer who holds the soul of the steam⁓boat..in his hands. 1843Mill Logic I. i. iv. §i. 105 The fire-teazer of a modern steam-engine.
1854Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 348 The under-surface of the cylinder being protected by *fire tiles from the direct and too powerful action of the fire.
1827G. Higgins Celtic Druids Pref. 46 They have of late obtained the names in general of *fire towers.
1891W. Schlich Man. Forestry II. iii. 192 Protection is afforded by removing all inflammable matter, or clearing *fire-traces around the area. 1953Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. i. 55 Fire trace, a cleared (often burnt) line used as a base from which to counterfire; also frequently as a syn[onym] for firebreak.
1887Spectator 28 May 722/2 The building appears to have been a regular *fire-trap.
1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iii. 332 Exhibitions..consisting chiefly in *fire-trees, jerbs, and rockets.
1909Strand Mag. Apr. 365/2 He dived down into the *fire-trenches. 1916‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 103 The deep ditch with a narrow platform along its front that was the forward fire trench. 1928Blunden Undertones of War xviii. 193 Men..asleep in narrow chilly firetrenches.
1639J. C[ruso] Art of Warre 154 To make a *fire-trunk. Take a piece of light wood..bore it through..with a hole of an inch in diameter;..place at the one end an half pike..To charge the trunk, put a charge of beaten powder in the bottome [etc.]. 1687J. Richards Jrnl. Siege Buda 26 Stones, Granadoes, Arrows, Bullets, and Fire-Trunks. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Sausisson, the trough..which communicates the flame from the train to the fire-trunks or powder-barrels in a fire-ship. 1830Falconer's Dict. Marine, Fire-trunks are wooden funnels fixed in fire-ships under the shrouds, to convey the flames to the masts, rigging, and sails.
1855H. Clarke Dict., *Fire-tube.
1382Wyclif Ex. xxvii. 3 Toonges, and hokes, and *fyer vessels. 1827Examiner 723/2 The Dartmouth sending a boat to one of the fire-vessels. 1898Westm. Gaz. 26 July 3/2 The Fijian *fire-walk. 1900Proc. Soc. Psychical Res. Feb. 11 Colonel Haggard saw the fire-walk done in Tokio, on April 9th, 1899.
1895Folk-Lore Sept. 246 A photograph of the *fire-walkers. 1898Westm. Gaz. 28 June 4/3 The fire-walkers then approached..and..walked leisurely across and around the oven. 1938Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Jan. 5/4 He is inclined to attribute the immunity of the fire-walkers to the power of faith.
1899Daily News 25 Jan. 4/6 There was a *fire-walking ceremony at Benares the other day. 1904Athenæum 13 Feb. 216/1 An interesting lecture on ‘The Fijians and their Fire-Walking’. 1963Times 2 Mar. 10/6 A Chinese fire-walking ceremony.
1851C. Cist Cincinnati 230 Three smoke-houses..are separated by twelve inch walls..with *fire-walls on the roof. 1947Aircraft Engin. Jan. 15/1 The firewall is a stout bulkhead.
1763J. Adams Diary Feb. Wks. 1850 II. 144 Collectors, wardens, *fire-wards, and representatives, are regularly chosen. 1832Webster, Fire-ward, Firewarden.
1724New-Eng. Courant 10–17 Aug. 2/2 Leave first obtain'd from the *Firewardens. 1817Upper Canada Gaz. (York, Ont.) 12 June 95/5 The said Fire Warden shall..carry about with him on occasion of Fires, a staff or some other visible distinguishing badge of office. 1875Chicago Tribune 2 July 3/4 The seven Fire Wardens were..abolished. 1968R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 41 Truly this butte was..well sited for the fire warden's lookout.
1941R. Greenwood Mr. Bunting at War xix. 269 I've got to *fire-watch.
1910W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars xvi. 217 *The fire-watcher raised his sad countenance. 1941Ann. Reg. 1940 95 All factories employing not less than thirty persons must have fire watchers. 1944Times 31 Jan. 2/3 In the cities and towns the Home Guard give a good deal of help in the Civil Defence services, as fire-watchers now.
1941Manch. Guardian Weekly 10 Jan. 18 Everyone now realises the great importance of *fire-watching and fire prevention. 1952O. R. Gurney Hittites vii. 150 There were even regulations about fire-watching and nightly patrols.
1663Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. Index, A *Fire Water-work 68.
1879Geikie in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) X. 250/1 Emanations of carburetted hydrogen, which, when they take fire, are known as *Fire-wells.
1634J. Bate Myst. Nat. & Art ii. 77 How to make Gironells or *fire wheeles. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 27 The fire wheels that are used on land, turn upon an iron pin or bolt, drawn or screwed into a post.
1945in Amer. Speech (1951) XXVI. 236/2 The wind velocity in the city had been less than 5 miles per hour before the bombing, but the *fire-wind attained a velocity of 30–40 miles per hour.
1899Westm. Gaz. 15 Apr. 8/1 A brigade of *fire-women should be attached to the staff of such sisterhoods. 1964Guardian 29 May 2/4 The Fire Brigades' Union executive today promised to examine firewomen's conditions of service.
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 111 Another which is called the *fier Worme, & semeth as it were to be a kinde of Spider. 1821Byron Cain ii. i, I have seen the fire-flies and fire-worms.
1639J. C[ruso] Art of Warre 93 Fire-balls, granadoes, *fire-wreathes, and fire-trunks. 1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 346 note, Fire-arrows shot from the bows, as well as fire-wreaths cast into the vessels of the enemy.
1916Brit. Dominions Year Bk. 1917 248 The pilot..can only secure these valuable pictures by making a dash into the *fire-zone. 1923Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 125 All four companies worked their way..out of the fire-zone.
b. In various plant-names, as fire-bush (see quot.); fire-grass dial., parsley piert (Alchemilla arvensis), so called because used as a remedy for erysipelas (J. Smith, Dom. Bot. 1871); fire-leaves, (a) Plantago media; (b) Scabiosa succisa; fire-pink (see quot.); fire-weed, applied to various plants (see quots.) that spring up on burnt land.
1882Garden 13 May 322/2 The *Fire Bush (Embothrium coccineum)..which thrives so well in..Devonshire.
1860Gard. Chron. 11 Aug. 738 *Fire-leaves. In Gloucestershire the name is given to the leaves of Plantains; and we have heard it in Herefordshire used for the Scabiosa succisa (Devil's bit).
1882Garden 6 May 307/2 The *Fire Pink (Silene virginica).—The flowers of this Catchfly are unsurpassed as regards brilliancy by those of any other plant.
1792J. Belknap Hist. New-Hampsh. III. 133 No other culture being necessary..but the cutting of the *fire-weed. 1829Loudon Encycl. Plants 706 Senecio hieracifolius..in North America, as S. vulgaris in Europe..is known by the name of the Fire-weed. 1857Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 350 There were great fields of fire weed (Epilobium angustifolium) on all sides. 1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 104 In Virginia, the Thorn-Apple is called Fireweed. 1866Treas. Bot., Fireweed, an American name for Erechthites hieracifolia. 1892R. Kipling in Times (weekly ed.) 24 Nov. 13/3 The fire-weed glows in the centre of the driveways.
c. In provincial or local names of birds and insects, as fire-beetle = cucuy; fire-brat, a bristle-tail (Thermobia domestica), found in hot parts of buildings; fire-bug, (a) U.S., the fire-fly; (b) an insect of the family Pyrrhocoridæ; fire-crest, a warbler (Regulus ignicapillus), closely resembling the gold-crest; also fire-crested wren; fire-finch, a name given to several African weaver birds from the red plumage of the male in the breeding season; fire-flirt, the redstart (Ruticilla phœnicurus); fire-hang-bird, the Baltimore oriole (see fire-bird); fire-tail, (a) the redstart; (b) a small finch-like bird of Tasmania; also, fire-tailed finch; (c) (see quot. 1868); fire-worm U.S., the larva of any of several moths belonging to the superfamily Tortricoidea.
1842T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. 49 Elater (Pyrophorus) noctilucus, the night-shining Elater, is the celebrated cucuio or *fire-beetle of the West Indies. 1855K. Büchele Land Nord-Amerika 32 Den Feuerkäfer (fire beetle), 1 Zoll lang, in Louisiana und Texas.
1895Cambr. Nat. Hist. V. 186 The bakers call these Insects [sc. Thermobia furnorum] *fire-brats, apparently considering them to be fond of heat. 1955Sci. News Let. 22 Jan. 62/3 The firebrat..preferring to live in the vicinity of a fireplace, furnace or other hot spot.
1789J. Morse Amer. Geogr. 62 Fire Fly or *Bug. 1877J. M. Bailey Folks in Danbury 40 (Th.), [The lamp] don't give more light than a fire-bug. 1921E. Step Brit. Insect Life 169 A striking representative of this family is a Bug that is known in France as the Beadle and the Soldier (Pyrrhocoris apterus), and mentioned sometimes as Fire-bug. 1959Southwood & Leston Land & Water Bugs iv. 72 The firebug occurs throughout much of Europe and is..found in gregarious masses on various mallows and limes.
1843J. D. Hoy in W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Birds I. 324 By the early part of November you will rarely find the *Fire Crest. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 229 Fire crest. 1889Cent. Dict., *Fire-finch. 1905G. E. Shelley Birds Afr. IV. i. 260 These Fire-finches are represented in the British Museum by a full plumaged male. 1966C. Sweeney Scurrying Bush x. 140 Little birds, such as cordon-bleus and firefinches, used to come to the crocodiles' pool to drink.
1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 13 Redstart..*Fire flirt.
1855Lowell Let. to Stillman 21 May, The linnets, catbirds, *fire hang-birds, and robins.
1802G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1833) 412 *Fire-tail..the Redstart. 1865Gould Hdbk. Birds Australia I. 406 Zonæginthus bellus, Fire-tailed Finch..Fire-tail. 1867Cornh. Mag. XV. 593 ‘There's a firetail’, said the boy. 1868Wood Homes without H. xxv. 481 Those splendid insects which are popularly called Ruby-tailed Flies or Fire-tails and scientifically are termed Chrysididæ.
1869A. S. Packard Guide Study Insects 339 These larvæ, called the Cranberry-vine worms, hatch about the first of June... Before reaching their full size they, if very numerous, almost wholly destroy the leaves and tender shoots, giving the whole bog a dark dry appearance as though a fire had been over it. This is why they are in some places known as ‘*fire-worms’. 1954Borror & Delong Introd. Study Insects xxvi. 531 The cranberry black-headed fire-worm, Rhopobota naevana Hübner, is a serious pest of cranberry plantings in the Eastern states.
▸ fire truck n. chiefly N. Amer. any of various vehicles for carrying firefighters and their equipment to the site of a fire; a fire engine.
1855N.Y. Daily Times 11 June 1/4 On the left side, the coat of arms of the National Guard,..and on the right a miniature of *fire truck No. 1. 1912Times 20 Apr. 24/1 The first automobile fire truck will soon be in service. 2005J. Diamond Collapse (2006) i. 44 Firefighters became much more successful.., thanks to the availability of..an expanded road system for sending in fire trucks.
▪ II. fire, v.1|faɪə(r)|
Forms: 1 fýrian, 3 furen(ü), 4–7 fyre, (4 fijre, 5 firin), 6–7 fier, 4– fire.
[f. fire n.; OE. had fýrian (once, in sense 1); cf. OHG. fiurên to be on fire, fiuren to set on fire (MHG. viuren, mod.G. feuern).]
†1. trans. To supply with firing. (Only OE.)
c970Canons of Edgar, Penitents §14 Fede þearfan and scryde and husiᵹe and fyriᵹe, baðiᵹe and beddiᵹe.
2. a. trans. To set on fire, so as to damage or destroy; sometimes, to consume or destroy by fire.
a1400–50Alexander 2217 A full thousand he fangid to fire þe foure ȝatis. c1440Promp. Parv. 162/1 Fyrin, or sette on a fyre, or brinnyn. c1490Adam Bel 117 in Ritson Anc. Pop. P. 9 They fyred the house in many a place. 1592Lyly Midas i. i, Least desiring things above my reach, I be fiered with Phaeton. 1699Bentley Phal. 77 Cylon fired the Pythagorean College. 1840Thirlwall Greece VII. lvi. 180 He fired his camp. 1848Kingsley Saint's Trag. iii. ii. When all your stacks were fired, she lent you gold.
b. To light, kindle, ignite (anything intended for the purpose; now only a beacon, or something explosive).
1393Gower Conf. I. 81 Sinon..Withinne Troie..a tokne hath fired. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xvii. 399 He toke a torche and fyred it. 1571Digges Pantom. Pref. A iij b, He hath..sundrie times by the Sunne beames fired Powder. 1665Sir T. Roe's Voy. E. Ind. 428 They fire an innumerable company of lamps. 1795Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 461 Twenty..white lights, which were fired at Beachy Head. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. iii. 242 Gunpowder could easily be fired by the heat of the sun's rays converged.
†c. to fire about: to surround with fires. Obs.
c1440Bone Flor. 709 The Grekys had fyred hym abowte, That he myght on no syde owte.
†d. Used in the imperative as an imprecation.
1752Foote Taste ii. Wks. 1799 I. 23 Fire me, my Lord, there may be more in this than we can guess. 1760― Minor i. ibid. I. 241 Fire him, a snub-nos'd son of a bitch.
3. fig.
a. To set (a person) on fire; to inspire with passion or strong feeling or desire; to inflame, heat, animate. Also, to kindle or inflame (a passion, etc.).
a1225St. Marher. 18 Wið þe halwunde fur of þe hali gast moncunne froure fure min heorte. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1013 Dido, That al the world her beute hadde y-fyred. a1420Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3835 They kyndlen ire, and firen lecherie. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. iii, What danke marrish spirit, But would be fyred with impatience? 1697Dryden Virg. Past. viii. 99 Verse fires the frozen Veins. 1728Young Odes to King Wks. 1757 I. 176 What hero's praise Can fire my lays, Like His? 1749Fielding Tom Jones xv. iv, Perceiving she had fired the young Lord's pride. 1775Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 22 The nations of Europe were fired with boundless expectation. 1813Scott Rokeby i. xii, Fired was each eye, and flushed each brow. a1862Buckle Misc. Wks. (1872) I. 13 Venice, that land so calculated to fire the imagination of a poet. 1881Mallock Romance Nineteenth Cent. II. 62 These imaginations fired him with a new longing for her.
†b. = feague v. 2 b.
1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (ed. 2) II. 61 You may chance to get a View of the Horses without the Dealer's having first put them upon their Mettle, or fired them, as it is called; for the last of these they will do, if possible, unless the Horse happens to set his Tail naturally.
4. a. intr. To catch fire, to be kindled or ignited; † also, to be consumed by fire. Of a coal mine: (see quot. 1892). to fire up: (of a volcano) to burst into flame.
a1618Raleigh Apol. 29 For I will fire with the Gallioones if it come to extreamity. 1681Lond. Gaz. No. 1628/2 In this Fight, the Frigat fired twice. 1731S. Hales Stat. Ess. I. 270 As in the case where houses are first beginning to fire. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. viii. 39 Gunpowder will readily fire with a spark. 1869Phillips Vesuv. iii. 59 On the 20th of April rain came with the Sirocco, and the mountain, as usual, fired up. 1892Northumberld. Gloss. s.v. A pit is said to have fired when an explosion of gas has taken place.
b. transf. Of flax: To become covered with black spots as if burnt.
1814W. S. Mason Surv. Ireland I. xiii. ix. 265 They find from experience that the latter [American flax-seed] fired much more than the former [Dutch flax-seed].
c. Said of a cylinder of an internal-combustion engine when the fuel inside it is ignited.
1894W. J. Lineham Textbk. Mech. Engin. x. 699 The first practical gas engine..was double-acting, charging with air and gas during a half stroke, firing during the remaining half. 1902J. E. Hutton in A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors viii. 139 Two cylinders out of the four fire in each revolution. 1959‘Motor’ Manual (ed. 36) iii. 61 As soon as the engine fires, the left-hand disc valve is drawn to the right. Ibid. ii. 38 When No. 1 is firing or on its power stroke, No. 2 is taking in its fresh charge.
5. fig. To become inflamed, heated, or excited. to fire up: to show sudden heat or anger.
1568T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 38, I rage and rewe, I fire and freese. 1604Marston Malcontent v. ii, Women are flax, and will fire in a moment. 1749Fielding Tom Jones v. x, The parson..fired at this information. 1798Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1833) I. vi. 25 If I were to hear any one speak slightingly of you, I should fire up in a moment. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 261 She fired up at the arrogance of the squire. 1832Examiner 388/1 His heart swells, and his imagination fires. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xli, I should have fired and fumed!
6. transf.
a. trans. To redden or cause to glow as if on fire; to suffuse with a fiery hue.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 42 When..He [the sun] fires the prowd tops of the Easterne Pines. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. ii. 10 The flaming bloud, Which fir'd her scarlet cheek with rosie dies. 1784Cowper Task v. 2 The sun..Ascending, fires th' horizon. 1878B. Taylor Deukalion ii. ii. 59 As a strong sunset fires the unwilling East.
b. intr. To glow as if on fire; to grow as red as fire.
1865J. C. Wilcocks Sea Fisherm. (1875) 118 When the water fires, or, as the fishermen term it, ‘brimes’. 1886A. Lang Lett. to Dead Authors xvii. 177 Watching..the dawn as it fired.
7. a. trans. To affect (the body) with a burning sensation. ? Obs. b. intr. To become heated or inflamed. ? U.S.
1673Ray Journ. Low C. 459 Olives..are of a horrid..taste, firing the throat and palate. 1889Century Dict. s.v., His feet fire easily in walking. (Colloq.)
8. a. trans. To drive (any one) away from a place by fire; with out, out of, from, or equivalent const. Also fig. Obs. or rare.
1530Palsgr. 551/1 Come out, or I shall fyre the out. 1590Marlowe Edw. II, iii. ii, March to fire them from their starting-holes. 1605Shakes. Lear v. iii. 23 He..shall bring a Brand from Heauen, And fire vs hence, like Foxes. 1615Byfield Expos. Col. iii. 5 Lust will not usually out of the soul..till it be fired out with confession. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative 128 The rest of the Enemy being first fired out of their strong hold, were taken. 1728Swift Let. Dubl. Wkly. Jrnl. 21 Sept., The law is like the wooden houses of our ancestors..where you..are very often fired out of all you have.
†b. To force (a way) by fire. Obs.
1671Crowne Juliana ii. Dram. Wks. 1873 I. 53 Ha! the gates fastened!.. Fetch me a torch, I'll fire my way to 'um.
9. trans. To subject to the action of fire; to prepare by heat; e.g. to bake (pottery, bricks, etc.); to dry or cure (tea or tobacco) by artificial heat.
1662R. Mathew Unl. Alch. lxxxix. 159 The gentlier thou dost fire, the better wil thy Work be. 1782Wedgwood in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 307 The kiln in which our glazed ware is fired furnishes three measures. 1805J. Nicol Poems I. 28 (Jam.) The dough is then rolled thin, and cut into small scones, which, when fired, are handed round the company. 1825Beverley Lighting Act ii. 18 Hoop, fire, cleanse, wash or scald any cask. 1875Sat. Rev. XL. 553/1 For green tea the leaf is ‘fired’ within two hours of picking. 1883U.S. 10th Census Report Agric. Tobacco 92 If a damp spell occurs after the barn is filled with tobacco it is sometimes fired with wood to save it. 1888Pall Mall G. 19 Nov. 2/1 The work is fired, again painted with enamels, again fired, and so on.
10. Farriery. To burn; cauterize.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 299 Then to give him the fire, which Absyrtus doth not allow, saving the Spleen lyeth so, as it cannot easily be fired, to do him any good. 1677Lond. Gaz. No. 1201/4 A..Hunting Gelding..fired for the Spaven..on the near leg behind. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 320, I see no Harm in Firing or Cauterizing young Colts. 1869E. Farmer Scrap Bk. (ed. 6) 27 They'll be most of them ‘blistered’ or ‘fired’, and turned out!
11. a. To supply (a furnace, etc.) with fuel; to attend to the fire of (an engine).
1760Goldsm. Cit. W. xciii. ⁋3 [He] might as well send his manuscript to fire the baker's oven. 1862Smiles Engineers III. 25 George firing the engine at the wage of a shilling a day. 1890Daily News 26 Dec. 5/7 The Edinburgh Works have as much coal as will fire the retorts for at least eight or ten days. 1894Chamb. Jrnl. 30 June 414/1 The boilers were fired by oil.
b. absol. Also with up: To make up a fire; to light up the fire of a furnace; hence colloq. to light one's pipe; fig., to stimulate or fill with enthusiasm (U.S. colloq.). Also trans.
1836Southern Lit. Messenger II. 734 Passing the fire⁓room, where they were just firing up, I stopped. 1857E. Stone Life Howland xii. 267 The time required to ‘fire up’, and set the engine again in motion, delayed the arrival. 1867Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. VI. 320 It can be attached..in less time than is required to fire up a steam fire engine. 1879Baring-Gould Germany II. 368 In the depth of winter..it is quite enough to fire up twice in the twenty-four hours. 1881M. Reynolds Engine-Driving Life 17 He allows the fireman to find out how to fire, when to fire, and where to fire. 1890Century Mag. 127/2 When we had fired up he grew more and more in cordial mood. 1893Catholic News 21 Oct. 6/5, I had been firing on the line for five years back. 1903N.Y. Even. Post 13 Oct. 1 Then the two statesmen fired up their cigars. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 16 Oct. 10/3 He fired up his investigators, offered deals to suspects who would turn state's evidence, and played off the knowledge of one suspect against the other. 1978Detroit Free Post 5 Mar. c4/1 When you're fired up and want to play, Vandy's style won't let you play.
c. to fire off (a kiln): to cause it to cease burning.
1884C. T. Davis Bricks, etc. 283 When the first kiln has been fired-off.
12. a. To apply fire to (a charge of gunpowder) in order to cause its explosion; to discharge or let off (a gun, firework, etc.), explode (a mine, etc.). Also, to fire off.
to fire a salute, to fire a certain number of guns as a salute; to fire a broadside, to fire all the guns on one side of a ship. Also fig.
1530Palsgr. 550/1 Fyer this pece..affustez ceste piece. 1602Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 281 Let all the Battlements their Ordinance fire. 1699W. Hacke Coll. Voy. iv. 37 They load them with loose Powder..and they fire them with Stoneshot. 1705Berkeley Cave Dunmore Wks. 1871 IV. 506, I desired one of our company to fire off his gun. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 17 These sorts of rockets are fired on a board or stand. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxvii. 91 At sundown, another salute of the same number of guns was fired. 1847Marryat Childr. N. Forest xv, Edward fired his gun into the body of the man. 1883J. Gilmour Among Mongols xxvi. 315 A grey-headed old man comes out and fires off crackers. 1886Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Paston Carew xl, Only when Mary fired a broadside into her character..did Mrs. Richard give tongue in her behalf.
b. causal. To cause to discharge a fire-arm.
1847Infantry Man. (1854) 42 The instructor will fire each recruit singly.
13. a. intr. or absol. To discharge a gun or other fire-arm; to shoot. Const. at, upon, into, etc.
Fire! as a word of command, is now apprehended as the vb. in the imperative; originally it was prob. the n. (= Fr. feu).
c1645Tullie Siege of Carlisle (1840) 47 Stradling..threatened to fire upon them. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. iv. 93 He fired, and hit two. 1721― Col. Jack (1840) 227 We had orders not to fire upon the burghers. 1794Southey Botany Bay Ecl. ii, I fired, they fell. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 250 Devonshire..had been fired at from Colepepper's windows. 1855Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. I. viii. 231 He has fired into the wrong flock this time. 1885Law Times 9 May 29/2 The plaintiff..fired at him, but did not hit him.
b. transf. (Bell-ringing.) To ring all the bells in a peal at once.
1788–1880 [cf. firing 6 b].
c. fig. to fire away: to start off and proceed (in a speech or action) with energy and rapidity; to ‘go ahead’. colloq.
1775F. Burney Early Diary 4 Mar., Mr. Burney fired away in a voluntary. 1840Marryat Poor Jack xvii, Now then, Billy, fire away. 1841E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 67 Then Edgeworth fires away about the Odes of Pindar. 1880Payn Confid. Agents III. 156 You tell it to me, and I will tell it to him. Fire away.
14. a. intr. Of a gun, etc.: To go off.
1668Lond. Gaz. No. 260/4 The Gun fired, killing two men. 1799Naval Chron. I. 440 A quantity of six-inch live shells fired. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVII. 194 The keepers..heard a gun fire.
b. fig. To go off in an explosion of passion.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxiv, Madame de Belladonna..fired off in one of her furies.
15. a. trans. To eject or propel (a missile) from a gun or other fire-arm. to fire away: to consume (ammunition) by firing.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 63 Is that Lead slow which is fir'd from a Gunne? 1864Macdougall Modern War vii. 176 He paralysed one half of his army by shutting it in behind the ravine, where it did not fire a shot. Ibid. xiii. 428 There is a tendency in the soldiers..to fire away their ammunition in a reckless and aimless manner. 1885Times 23 Jan. 9/2 A man who had never commanded a regiment or fired a shot in anger.
b. transf. To propel or discharge (a missile) as from a gun. Also absol. (cf. 13.)
1708Ockley Saracens (1848) 143 The Persian archers firing on them all the while. 1849Pitman's Ghost in Bards of the Tyne 409 (Northumb. Gloss.) They fired styens at him. 1878A. Hamilton Nerv. Dis. x. 270 A boy having fired a brick at her. 1885Times 4 Feb. 4/4 If you want something to eat, fire a stone through a window.
c. fig.; also, to fire off.
1850J. W. Croker in Croker Papers (1884) III. xxvii. 214 He had a most effective style of firing off his joke. 1859Reade Love me Little I. i. 29 Her ardent aunt..fired many glowing phrases in at the [carriage] window. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. ii, He..would not notice the looks of recognition which Tom kept firing at him. 1873Argosy XVI. 443 ‘Miss Timmens is not worth her salt’, fired Tod. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. cxi. 600 The great set speeches being fired off..with a view to their circulation in the country.
d. Photogr. To release (the shutter). Also intr. in to fire away or fire off, to take a photograph.
1892Photogr. Ann. II. 51 What is the object of firing off at a street view..with the shutter set at 1/70 second when 1/25 would be fast enough? Ibid. 349 The shutter release..appears to lift the mirror and fire the shutter much more efficiently. 1900Daily News 21 June 5/1, I..fired away at some Tommies trying to catch a pig. 1958M. L. Hall Newnes Complete Amat. Photogr. iv. 60 There is no doubt that the 35mm. user, with 36 frames on his roll, is much more apt to fire away indiscriminately.
16. U.S. slang. To turn (any one) out of a place; to eject or expel forcibly; to dismiss or discharge peremptorily; to reject (a picture sent in for exhibition). Frequently with out.
It has been suggested that this sense is derived from 8, but this seems unlikely.
1885Milner (Dakota) Free Press 25 Apr. 5/2 If..the practice is persisted in, then they [pupils] should be fired out. 1887Lisbon (Dakota) Star 11 Feb. 4 Postmaster Breed says the next time such a thing occurs he will fire the offender bodily. 1889Pall Mall G. 29 Apr. 2/1 A Commissioner who should be discovered to have reported a subordinate unjustly would be fired from his high post. 1892Nation (N.Y.) 15 Dec. 447/2 Artists of genuine ability have found their canvases fired.
▪ III. fire, v.2
Obs. variant of veer.
1536Bellenden Cron. Scot. iv. xiv, Thay fyrit thair takillis, and sank down in y⊇ middis of y⊇ see. |