fire 
= MLG. vur, riur, vuir, viter, LG. viir, viier = 
OHG. fuir, later fiur, MHG. ruir, viur, G. fever 
ent words are used in Goth. (/, gen. funins, 
fire; cf. Icel. funi, a flame), in L. and Skt. (L. 
it/nix = Skt. iujni, fire), and in Bom. (It. fuoco 
= Sp. fiieyo ='Pg. fogo = F. feu, fire, < L. focus, 
fireplace: see fuel, _/<..).] 1. The visible heat, 
or light, evolved by the action of a high tem- 
perature on certain bodies, which are in con- 
sequence styled inflammable or combustible; 
combustion, or the heat and light evolved dur- 
ing the process of combustion. Anciently, fire, air, 
earth, and water were regarded as the four elements of 
which all things are composed; and fire continued until 
comparatively recent times to be considered a distinct im- 
ponderable substance, existing throughout the universe 
in the supposed form of caloric. See combustion, flame. 
The Lindsays flew like fire about, 
Till all the fray was done. 
Battle of Otterbourne (Child's Ballads, VII. 24). 
Thon wonldst as soon go kindle fire with snow 
As seek to quench the fire of love with words. 
Shak., T. G. of V., li. 7. 
Wheresoe'er I am, by night and day, 
All earth and air seem only burning fire. 
Tennyson, (Enone. 
In popular language, the word element is often referred 
to fire, air, earth, and water. A very slight acquaintance 
with chemistry is sufficient to prove that air, earth, and 
water are compound bodies, and that fire is mainly the 
result of a high temperature on certain bodies. 
W. A. Miller, Elem. of Chem., 1. 
2. Fuel in a state of combustion, as on a hearth 
or the ground, or in a grate, stove, or furnace ; 
a burning mass of material lighted for the sake 
of warmth or for the utilization of the heat or 
light from it. 
Bryng \nfyre on alhalawgh day, 
To condulmas eneu, I dar welle say. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 311. 
And ther with owt the Door in the Courte, on the left 
honde, ys a tree with many stonys a bowght it, wher the 
ministres of the Jewys and Seynt Petir with them warmyd 
them by the /yet: 
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 35. 
Now the king sat in the winterhonse in the ninth month : 
and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. 
Jer. xxxvi. 22. 
In winter's tedious nights sit by the fire 
With good old folks. Shak., Rich. II., v. 1. 
3. The burning of any large collection of ma- 
terial, as a building, town, forest, etc. ; a con- 
flagration: as, the great fire of London or of 
Chicago ; a forest or a prairie fire. 
A fyre is foul affray in thinges drie. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 28. 
Where two raging fires meet together, 
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury. 
Shak., T. of the S., 11. 1. 
Grub-street \ thy fall should men and gods conspire, 
Thy stage shall stand, ensure it but from fire. 
Pope, Dunciad, iii. 3. 
Till the \astfire burn all between the poles. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 756. 
4. A spark or sparks; specifically, a spark, as 
from red-hot iron, or from flint or other stones 
when struck. 
His spurs o' steel were sair to bide, 
And fra her fore-feet flew the fire. 
Annan Water (Child's Ballads, II. 188). 
5. Flashing light ; vivid luster; splendor. 
She is very beautiful, and very like her father, with eyes 
ion in all her features. 
lay, Life and Letters, I. 211. 
6. In precious stones, the quality of refracting 
and dispersing light, and the brilliancy of effect 
that comes from this quality. 7. A luminous 
body; a star. [Poetical.] 
Before him burn 
Seven lamps, as in a zodiac representing 
The heavenly fires. Milton, P. L., xii. 256. 
Yon fair stars, . . . 
Cold fires, yet with power to burn and brand 
His nothingness into man. Tennyson, Maud, xviii. 
8. A sensation of internal heat arising from 
either a physical or a mental cause ; an inflam- 
matory process or effect. 
What /ire is in mine ears? Shak., Much Ado, iii. 1. 
9. Ardor; burning desire ; passionate love for 
something. 
Out he flash'd, 
And into such a song, such fire for fame, 
Such trumpet-blowings in it, ... 
That when he stopt, we long'd to hurl together. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
, , 
full of fire, and great expression in all her features. 
Macau 
2227 
10. Consuming violence, as of temper; fierce- 
ness; vehemence: as, they're of love or of en- 
mity. 
For Wealth he seeks, nor feels Ambition's Firrx. 
Conyrece, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
He had fire in his temper. Up. Atlrrlmrii. 
1 1 . Liveliness of imagination ; vigor of fancy ; 
force of sentiment or expression ; capacity for 
ardor and zeal ; animation ; vivacity. 
Old as we are, our soul retains a. fire 
Active and quick in motion. Ford, Fancies, v. 1. 
His fire is out, his wit decayed. 
Swift, Death of Dr. Swift. 
Mrs. Rebecca Quickly, whom he married, had all that 
the lire of youth and a lively manner could do towards 
making an agreeable woman. Steele, Spectator, No. 100. 
And bless their Critic with a Poet's lire. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 076. 
Pitt's . . . ardour and his noble bearing put fire into 
the most frigid conceit. Maeaulay, William Pitt. 
12. Subjection to evil effects of any kind ; es- 
pecially, overwhelming trouble; severe trial: 
used with reference to the old or savage prac- 
tice of trial or torture by fire, and especially 
to the passing through the fire to Moloch men- 
tioned in the Bible : as, to pass through or be 
subjected to the fires of affliction. 
Not passing thro' the fire 
Bodies, but souls thy children's thro' the smoke, 
The blight of low desires. Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
13. [< fire, v. t., 6.] The firing or discharge 
of firearms ; the discharge of a number of fire- 
arms, as rifles, muskets, or cannon, from a 
body of troops, a battery, or the like : as, to 
be under fire; to silence the enemy's fire; en- 
filade and ricochet fire, etc. Artillery fire is said 
to be direct when the line of fire is perpendicular to the 
line aimed at, and the projectile does not touch the in- 
termediate ground ; oblique when the line of fire makes 
an angle less than 90 with the front of the object ; enfi- 
lading when the line of fire is nearly parallel to the para- 
pet or line of troops to be swept; reverse when the line of 
fire forms a horizontal angle greater than 30 with the in- 
terior slope of the parapet or the line of troops exposed 
to its effects ; giant when the angle made with the inte- 
rior slope is less than 30 ; horizontal when the piece has 
but a small angle of elevation and the projectile strikes 
the object without striking the intermediate ground ; ver- 
tical when the piece has a great angle of elevation, as in the 
case of mortars ; ricochet when the elevation is slight and 
the projectile strikes the earth or water and rebounds one or 
more times (used chiefly with reduced charges for enfilad- 
ing purposes) ; rotting when the axis of the piece is parallel 
to the ground, or nearly so, and the projectile makes a 
series of ricochets ; plunging when the piece is situated 
above the plane of the object fired at. 
Bullets would sing by our foreheads, and bullets would 
rain at our feet 
Fire from ten thousand at once of the rebels that girdled 
us round. Tennyson, Defence of Lucknow. 
They were under fire for more than two hours, and every 
vessel was struck many times, but with little damage to the 
gunboats. tf. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 463. 
A dropping fire. See drop, v. i. A flaught o' fire. See 
fiaught?. Artillery fire. See def. 13. Ascending fires. 
See firework. Baptism of fire. See baptism.- Blind 
fire. See blindi. Center fire. See center-fire. Central 
fire, a flre which, according to the Pythagoreans, occupies 
the center of the universe and was the first thing made, 
being the germ of everything else. Copernicus and others 
supposed the sun was intended. Chinese fire, a com- 
position used in fireworks. It consists of 16 parts of gun- 
powder, 8 of niter, 3 of charcoal, 10 of small cast-iron bor- 
ings, and 3 of sulphur. Colored fires, the tinted flames 
produced by the salts of barium, strontium, sodium, cop- 
per, and other metals, or the compositions used to produce 
such flames. Various mixtures are employed , and the lights 
are used for signals, in pyrotechny, etc. Cross fire. See 
crossfire. Curved flre. See the extract. 
When a projectile is fired so as just to clear an interpos- 
ing cover, and then descend upon the object, the line of 
flre being perpendicular or nearly so to the front of troops 
or works to be destroyed, such practice is termed curved 
fire, in order to distinguish it from ricochet. 
Farrow, Mil. Encyc., I. 441. 
Elmo's flre. Same as corposant False flre. (n) A blue 
flame made by burning certain combustibles in a wooden 
tube, used as a signal during the night. (6) A flre kindled 
with the object of leading a ship to destruction ; a false or 
misleading beacon. 
Shipwrecked, kindles on the coast 
False fires, that others may be lost. 
Wordsworth, To Lady Fleming. 
Fire of the periphery, a fire which, according to the 
Pythagoreans and other ancient philosophers, occupies the 
circumference of the universe. Fixed fires. See fire- 
work. Greek fire, a combustible composition the con- 
stituents of which are supposed to have been asphalt, niter, 
and sulphur. It would burn on or under water, and was 
used with great effect in war by the Greeks of the Eastern 
Empire, who kept its composition secret for several hun- 
dred years. Upon the conquest of Constantinople the 
secret came into the possession of the Mohammedans, to 
whom it rendered repeated and valuable service. Also 
Grecian fire. 
The Saracens, by throwing Greek fire on the Christians, 
burnt many of their boats and killed the people in them, 
thus obtaining the victory. 
Quoted in Hewitt's Ancient Armour, I. 328. 
Hollow flre. (a) A peculiar kind of hearth or furnace 
used in the manufacture of iron for tin-plates, and so ar- 
fire 
ranged that the metal, In the form of "stamps" (bars 
broken into pieces weighing about a quarter of a hundred 
each), is heated in the Humes, and does not come in di- 
rect contact with the fuel, thus avoiding contamination 
by sulphur. (b) A tire burning chiefly in the interior of 
the muss of fuel, so as to avoid waste of the coal by com- 
bustion on the outside, where it is not in contact with the 
metal. For the common blacksmith's tire semi-bituminous 
coal is preferred. Holy fire, in the Roman Catholic and 
Oriental churches, a lignt kindled on Holy Saturday (the 
Saturday preceding Easter Sunday) by sparks from a flint, 
and used to relight the church lamps, all of which are ex- 
tinguished on Good Friday. In the Greek Church the fire 
is claimed to be a miraculous gift from heaven. At Rome 
the ceremony is performed in presence of the pope. At 
Jerusalem the lighting of the holy fire is celebrated by the 
Greek and Armenian clergy combined in the Church of the 
Holy Sepnlcher, amid a scene of wild enthusiasm on the 
part of the spectators. Kentish fire. See Kentish. 
Letters of fire and sword, in the ancient law of Scot- 
land, letters of ejectment issued by the Privy Council, and 
directed to the sheriff of the county, authorizing him to call 
the assistance of the county to dispossess a tenant who re- 
tained his possession contrary to the order of the judge 
and the diligence of the law. Line of fire (milit.), a line 
formed by the prolongation of the axis of a firearm for- 
ward. Oblique fire, a phrase noting a form of action in 
flrearms, in which the plunger which explodes the cart- 
ridge moves obliquely to the axis of the barrel. On fire, 
ignited; inflamed; burning; hence, figuratively, eager; ar- 
dent ; zealous. See ajire. 
Receiv'd my heart an offering all on fire, 
Kindled, and fed, and blown by strong Desire. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 8!S. 
All frets 
But chafing me on fire to find my bride. 
Tennyson, Princess, i. 
Out of the frying-pan into the fire. See friiinti-pan. 
Primitive fire, a fire which, according to Heraclitus and 
other ancient philosophers, was the primitive material out 
of which the universe was formed. Rotating fires. See 
fireivork. Running fire (inilit.), the rapid discharge of 
firearms by a line of troops in succession. St. Anthony's 
fire. Sameasert/stprfn*. St. Elmo's fire. Same as cor - 
posant. St. Francis's flret, probably the same as SI. 
Anthony's fire. 
All these, and many evils moe haunt ire, 
The swelling Splene, and Frenzy raging rife, 
The shaking Palsey, and Saint Frounce* fire. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 35. 
The fat is in the fire. See /ad. To bank a fire, to 
give fire, to hang fire. See the verbs. To heap coals 
of fire on one'shead. See coal. To play with fire, 
to meddle carelessly or ignoi-antly with a dangerous mat- 
ter; do anything lightly or for amusement that may cause 
great trouble or suffering. To pour Oil on the fire, 
to add fuel to the flame that is, to do or say something 
likely to intensify existing passion or trouble. To set on 
fire, (a) To apply fire to ; cause to burn. 
And [they] a-bide so in this inanere till tydinges com to 
hem, that her emnyes were entred into the londe that sette 
on fife ouer all ther as thei inyght eny barme do. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 380. 
Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusa- 
lem . . . and set the city on fire. Judges i. 8. 
(b) Figuratively, to make fiery; inflame; excite violently. 
The tongue . . . setteth on fire the course of nature ; 
and it is set on fire of hell. Jas. iii. B. 
To set the river (or the Thames.Hudson, or other river, 
according to locality) on fire, to accomplish something 
surprising or remarkable ; cut a figure in the world : al- 
always used with a negative ; as, he is a smart fellow 
enough, but he'll never set the rioer on fire. See temie. 
To Strike fire, to produce a spark or flame by friction or 
concussion. 
Striking fire, I kindled some heath and dry sea-weed, by 
which I roasted my eggs. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, iii. 1. 
To take fire, (a) To become ignited; begin to burn. 
The sapless wood, divested of the bark, 
Grows fungous, and takes fire at every spark. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 54. 
(b) Figuratively, to become inflamed ; be violently excited 
or aroused. 
I am no courtier, of a light condition, 
Apt to take fire at every beauteous face, 
That only serves his will and wantonness. 
Fletcher (and another), Elder Brother, iv. 3. 
White Bengal fire, a very brilliant light produced by 
means of pure metallic arsenic. 
fire (fir), )'. ; pret. and pp. fired, ppr. firiiiy. 
[< ME. firen, fyrcn,furen, set on fire, expose to 
fire, animate, < AS. fyrian, found only in the 
sense of 'give warmth to,' = D. wren = MLG. 
ruren, 'LG.fiiren = Sw. fyra = Dan./yre, fire; 
from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To set on fire; 
enkindle : as, to Jire a house or a chimney ; to 
fire a pile. 
And of a certain hearbe which, being folded up in a mans 
clothes, would make him walke invisible, & the smoke of 
the same, being fired, would cause thunders. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 61. 
Reedisdale has fired our house. 
Reedisdale and Wise William (Child's Ballads, VIII. 91). 
Captain Swan ordered the Town to be fired, which was 
presently done. Dampier, Voyages, I. 145. 
2. To expose to the action of fire ; prepare by 
the application of heat ; bake : as, to fire pot- 
tery ; to fire a stack of bricks. [Rarely used 
of culinary processes.] 
The dough is ... cut into small scones, which, when 
fired, are handed round the company. 
Rev. J. Nieol, Poems, I. 28, note. 
