Fire (fīr), n. [OE. fir,
fyr, fur AS. fȳr; akin to D. vuur,
OS. & OHG. fiur, G. feuer, Icel. fȳri,
fūrr, Gr. py^r, and perh. to L. purus
pure, E. pure Cf. Empyrean, Pyre.]
1. The evolution of light and heat in the
combustion of bodies; combustion; state of ignition.
☞ The form of fire exhibited in the combustion of
gases in an ascending stream or current is called flame.
Anciently, fire, air, earth, and water were regarded as the
four elements of which all things are composed.
2. Fuel in a state of combustion, as on a
hearth, or in a stove or a furnace.
3. The burning of a house or town; a
conflagration.
4. Anything which destroys or affects like
fire.
5. Ardor of passion, whether love or hate;
excessive warmth; consuming violence of temper.
he had fire in his temper.
Atterbury.
6. Liveliness of imagination or fancy;
intellectual and moral enthusiasm; capacity for ardor and
zeal.
And bless their critic with a poet's
fire.
Pope.
7. Splendor; brilliancy; luster; hence, a
star.
Stars, hide your fires.
Shak.
As in a zodiac
representing the heavenly fires.
Milton.
8. Torture by burning; severe trial or
affliction.
9. The discharge of firearms; firing; as, the
troops were exposed to a heavy fire.
Blue fire, Red fire,
Green fire (Pyrotech.), compositions of
various combustible substances, as sulphur, niter, lampblack, etc.,
the flames of which are colored by various metallic salts, as those
of antimony, strontium, barium, etc. -- Fire
alarm (a) A signal given on the
breaking out of a fire. (b) An apparatus for
giving such an alarm. -- Fire annihilator,
a machine, device, or preparation to be kept at hand for
extinguishing fire by smothering it with some incombustible vapor or
gas, as carbonic acid. -- Fire balloon.
(a) A balloon raised in the air by the buoyancy
of air heated by a fire placed in the lower part.
(b) A balloon sent up at night with fireworks
which ignite at a regulated height. Simmonds. --
Fire bar, a grate bar. -- Fire
basket, a portable grate; a cresset.
Knight. -- Fire beetle. (Zoöl.)
See in the Vocabulary. -- Fire blast,
a disease of plants which causes them to appear as if burnt by
fire. -- Fire box, the chamber of a
furnace, steam boiler, etc., for the fire. -- Fire
brick, a refractory brick, capable of sustaining
intense heat without fusion, usually made of fire clay or of
siliceous material, with some cementing substance, and used for
lining fire boxes, etc. -- Fire brigade,
an organized body of men for extinguished fires. --
Fire bucket. See under Bucket. --
Fire bug, an incendiary; one who, from malice
or through mania, persistently sets fire to property; a
pyromaniac. [U.S.] -- Fire clay. See under
Clay. -- Fire company, a company of
men managing an engine in extinguishing fires. -- Fire
cross. See Fiery cross. [Obs.]
Milton. -- Fire damp. See under
Damp. -- Fire dog. See
Firedog, in the Vocabulary. -- Fire
drill. (a) A series of evolutions
performed by fireman for practice. (b) An
apparatus for producing fire by friction, by rapidly twirling a
wooden pin in a wooden socket; -- used by the Hindoos during all
historic time, and by many savage peoples. -- Fire
eater. (a) A juggler who pretends to
eat fire. (b) A quarrelsome person who seeks
affrays; a hotspur. [Colloq.] -- Fire engine,
a portable forcing pump, usually on wheels, for throwing water to
extinguish fire. -- Fire escape, a
contrivance for facilitating escape from burning buildings. --
Fire gilding (Fine Arts), a mode of
gilding with an amalgam of gold and quicksilver, the latter metal
being driven off afterward by heat. -- Fire
gilt (Fine Arts), gold laid on by the process of
fire gilding. -- Fire insurance, the act
or system of insuring against fire; also, a contract by which an
insurance company undertakes, in consideration of the payment of a
premium or small percentage -- usually made periodically -- to
indemnify an owner of property from loss by fire during a specified
period. -- Fire irons, utensils for a
fireplace or grate, as tongs, poker, and shovel. -- Fire
main, a pipe for water, to be used in putting out
fire. -- Fire master (Mil),
an artillery officer who formerly supervised the composition of
fireworks. -- Fire office, an office at
which to effect insurance against fire. -- Fire
opal, a variety of opal giving firelike
reflections. -- Fire ordeal, an ancient
mode of trial, in which the test was the ability of the accused to
handle or tread upon red-hot irons. Abbot. --
Fire pan, a pan for holding or conveying fire,
especially the receptacle for the priming of a gun. --
Fire plug, a plug or hydrant for drawing water
from the main pipes in a street, building, etc., for extinguishing
fires. -- Fire policy, the writing or
instrument expressing the contract of insurance against loss by
fire. -- Fire pot. (a)
(Mil.) A small earthen pot filled with combustibles,
formerly used as a missile in war. (b) The
cast iron vessel which holds the fuel or fire in a furnace.
(c) A crucible. (d) A
solderer's furnace. -- Fire raft, a raft
laden with combustibles, used for setting fire to an enemy's
ships. -- Fire roll, a peculiar beat of
the drum to summon men to their quarters in case of fire. --
Fire setting (Mining), the process of
softening or cracking the working face of a lode, to facilitate
excavation, by exposing it to the action of fire; -- now generally
superseded by the use of explosives. Raymond. --
Fire ship, a vessel filled with combustibles,
for setting fire to an enemy's ships. -- Fire
shovel, a shovel for taking up coals of fire. --
Fire stink, the stench from decomposing iron
pyrites, caused by the formation of sulphureted hydrogen.
Raymond. -- Fire surface, the surfaces
of a steam boiler which are exposed to the direct heat of the fuel
and the products of combustion; heating surface. -- Fire
swab, a swab saturated with water, for cooling a gun in
action and clearing away particles of powder, etc.
Farrow. -- Fire teaser, in England, the
fireman of a steam emgine. -- Fire water,
ardent spirits; -- so called by the American Indians. --
Fire worship, the worship of fire, which
prevails chiefly in Persia, among the followers of Zoroaster, called
Chebers, or Guebers, and among the Parsees of
India. -- Greek fire. See under
Greek. -- On fire, burning; hence,
ardent; passionate; eager; zealous. -- Running
fire, the rapid discharge of firearms in succession by
a line of troops. -- St. Anthony's fire,
erysipelas; -- an eruptive fever which St. Anthony was supposed
to cure miraculously. Hoblyn. -- St. Elmo's
fire. See under Saint Elmo. -- To
set on fire, to inflame; to kindle. -- To
take fire, to begin to burn; to fly into a
passion.
Fire (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Fired (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Fring.] 1. To set on fire; to kindle; as,
to fire a house or chimney; to fire a pile.
2. To subject to intense heat; to bake; to
burn in a kiln; as, to fire pottery.
3. To inflame; to irritate, as the passions;
as, to fire the soul with anger, pride, or revenge.
Love had fired my mind.
Dryden.
4. To animate; to give life or spirit to; as,
to fire the genius of a young man.
5. To feed or serve the fire of; as, to
fire a boiler.
6. To light up as if by fire; to
illuminate.
[The sun] fires the proud tops of the eastern
pines.
Shak.
7. To cause to explode; as, to fire a
torpedo; to disharge; as, to fire a musket or cannon; to
fire cannon balls, rockets, etc.
8. To drive by fire. [Obs.]
Till my bad angel fire my good one
out.
Shak.
9. (Far.) To cauterize.
To fire up, to light up the fires of, as of
an engine.