Fire sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Fire sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1901, rev. 2022. Fire sb. 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.]

1   In poetry sometimes as two syllables.

2   A.  As simple sb.

3   1.  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.

4 c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, xvii. 9 [xviii. 8]. Astaȝ rec in eorre his & fyr from onsiene his born.

5 a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Exod., 93 (Gr.). Him beforan foran fyr and wolcen.

6 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 89. On þisse deie com þe halie gast on fures heowe to godes hirede.

7 c. 1200.  Ormin, 17414. He swallt þurrh firess wunde.

8 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1139.        Ðo meidenes herden quilum seien, Ðat fier sulde al ðis werld forsweðen.

9 1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 151. Y formed as a dragon, as red as þe fuyr.

10 1340.  Ayenb., 265. Þer me geþ uram chele in to greate hete of uere.

11 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 102. Þanne maist þou wiþ tendre gete fuyre of þat stone.

12 1447.  Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 21.        Of the feer wych owt dede renne From his [the dragon’s] mouth & fast gan brenne.

13 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 3. Whiche from ye gyrdell downwarde was all lyke fyre.

14 1607.  Hieron, Wks., I. 364. Fier is known to be fier by the heat, though for the time it haue no flame.

15 1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., I. 49. These words he uttered with much passion; with a face as red as fire that the bloud seemed to trickle downe his cheekes, and sparkles to flash for very anger forth his eyes.

16 1781.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. lxxi. 802. Fire is the most powerful agent of life and death; the rapid mischief may be kindled and propagated by the industry and negligence of mankind; and every period of the Roman annals is marked by the repetition of similar calamities.

17 1837.  J. H. Newman, Par. Serm. (1839), I. i. 9. Fire does not inflame iron, but it inflames straw.

18   b.  as one of the four ‘elements.’

19 a. 1300.  Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright), 121. Next the mone the fur is hext.

20 1576.  Baker, 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 and marueylousser…. Thys fyre, is named the Elixir vitæ.

21 1700.  Dryden, Fables, Pythag. Philos., 517.        The force of fire ascended first on high, And took its dwelling in the vaulted sky. Then air succeeds, in lightness next to fire, Whose atoms from unactive earth retire.

22   c.  with reference to hell or purgatory; sometimes in pl. Also in Alchemy, † Fire of Hell = ALKAHEST.

23 c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., Mark ix. 44. Ðer … ꝥ fyr ne biॠ ȝidrysnad.

24 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. v. 22. Se ðe seȝð, þu stunta, se byð scyldiȝ helle fyres.

25 c. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 221. Þat ece fer.

26 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 29165 (Cott.).        Þai sal eiþer for þair foly Bren in þe fier of purgatori.

27 1577.  Fulke, Confut. Purg., 102. But what doctrine is tryed to be true or false, substantiall or superficiall by the fire of purgatory?

28 1657.  G. Starkey, Helmont’s Vind., 241. The sweet oyl … by cohobation with the fire of Hell (that is, the Alchahest) becomes volatile, and sweet like hony.

29 1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 44.                    Him the Almighty Power Hurld headlong flaming from th’ Ethereal Skie With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire.

30 1830.  A. 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.’

31   fig.  1847.  Tennyson, The Princess, V. 444.                        Her small goodman Shrinks in his arm-chair while the fires of Hell Mix with his hearth.

32   d.  Volcanic heat, flame, or glowing lava; † a volcanic eruption.

33 c. 1582.  Edmund Skory in Nature, XXVII. 316/1. On the sommer time the fyers doe ofte breake forth from out the hole in the topp of this hill; into which, if you throw a great stone, it soundeth as if a great weight had fallen upon infinite store of hollow Brasse.

34 1632.  Lithgow, Trav., IX. 391. This last and least fire [of Etna], runne downe in a combustible flood, from the middle above, Anno 1614. June 25.

35 1734.  Pope, Ess. Man, IV. 124.          Shall burning Ætna, if a sage requires, Forget to thunder, and recall her fires?

36 1811.  W. J. Hooker, Iceland (1813), II. 106. Hecla, from the frequency of its fires, from its vicinity to the most populous part of the island, and from its situation that renders it visible to ships sailing to Greenland and North America, has been by far the most celebrated among foreign countries.

37 1845.  Darwin, Voy. Nat., i. 1. The volcanic fires of a past age, and the scorching heat of a tropical sun, have in most places rendered the soil unfit for vegetation.

38   † e.  Farriery. = Cautery. Cf. to give the fire in 1 f. Obs.

39 1635.  Markham, Faithfull Farrier (1638), 103. The Actuall fire stoppeth corruption of members, and stancheth blood, provided the Sinews, Cords, and Ligaments be not toucht. Ibid., 103–4. The Potentiall fires are Medecines Corosive, Putrefactive, or Caustick.

40 1737.  H. Bracken, 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?

41   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.

42 c. 1430.  Lydg., Miner P., Agst. Idlen., xx.        Peryodes, for grete avauntage, From flyntes smote fuyre, darying in the roote.

43 1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 107 b. Thei set fire in their lodgynges, and departed in good ordre of battail.

44 1580.  Baret, Alv., F 450. To strike fire with a flint, excutere silicis scintillam.

45 1580.  Blundevil, Horsemanship, IV. clxxxv. (heading). Of Cauterization, or giuing the fire.

46 1590.  Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Weapons, 21. The Harquebusiers giving fire with their matches in their serpentines to the touchpowder, oftentimes their pieces do not discharge.

47 1604.  E. Grimstone, Hist. Siege Ostend, 45. A firie Bullet faling behinde a Burgesses house, set fire of a barrell of Poulder, the which burnt all the house.

48 1607.  A. Brewer, Lingua, IV. I. Men. When hee had hangd this Adamant in a corde, he comes back, and giues fire to the tutch-hole, now the powder consumed to a voide vacuvm.

49 1623.  Bingham, Xenophon, 50. All arose and departing, set fire on the Carts, and Tents, and on the things, that might wel be spared.

50 1633.  Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 549. But I will bring upon them Nebuchadnezzar, who shall invade their countrey, and set a fire on their chiefe city Rabbah; and shall come upon them with great fiercenesse and fury, like a tempestuous whirle-winde, and shall vtterly destroy all before him.

51 1635.  Markham, Faithfull Farrier (1638), 103. There are two waies to give fire, the one Actuall, and the other Potentiall.

52 1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., V. 85. These Fuses are very certain to give Fire, but Match doth ofttimes fail.

53 a. 1674.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., XIII. (1704), III. 354. The Lady … having given fire her self to the Cannon in the Bastile.

54 1700.  Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 786. They set Fire on the Suburbs.

55 1725.  Lond. Gaz., No. 6447/4. One of the said Persons did strike Fire.

56 1737.  H. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 217. The Absurdity of giving the Fire for the Cure of Bog-spavins.

57 1761.  Gray, Lett. to Brown, 24 Sept. The instant the queen’s canopy entered, fire was given to all the lustres at once by trains of prepared flax.

58   g.  In exclamatory phrases (cf. 1 c).

59 [1601, 1604: see BRIMSTONE 1 b.]

60 1825.  J. Neal, Brother Jonathan, II. 91–2. Fire an’ brimstone! lay hold o’ the trumpet, I say—lay hold o’ the trumpet, our Tib; and blow away like nineteen devils—or you may get a licken’, my lad.

61 1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, l. ‘Fire and fury, master!’ cried Hugh, starting up. ‘What have we done, that you should talk to us like this!’

62   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)

63 a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour (1868), 25. It wille make her do and thenke the worse, as it were to putte fere in flexe.

64 1539.  Taverner, 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.

65 1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1562), Hj. There is no fyre without some smoke.

66 1670.  Ray, Prov., 143. No smoke without some fire, i. e. There is no strong rumour without some ground for it.

67 1888.  F. Hume, Madame Midas, II. xii. ‘There is no smoke without fire,’ replied Rolleston, eagerly.

68   2.  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.

69   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.

70 c. 1400.  An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, 3. For þoo þre chimneis ich low or þe fendis blowing is sett in fire.

71 a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 2470. For fest I alle on [v.r. in] a fire þe foly is ȝoure awen.

72 c. 1485.  Digby Myst. (1882), III. 742.        Goo In-to þis howsse, ȝe lordeynnes here, & loke ye set yt on a feyer.

73 c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 17. I shall sett all his londes in fyre.

74 c. 1500.  Melusine, 228. He was wood angry & sorowful, & sware his goddes that he shuld putte al on fyre.

75 1548.  Hall, Chron., 107 b. The fortresse … thei toke and set it on fire.

76 1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 136. No mans nature is so apt, straight to be heated, except the Oratour himselfe, be on fire, and bring his heate with him.

77 1559.  Mirr. Mag., Jack Cade, xvii. 6.        Wee wan the bridge and set much part on fire, This done to Southwarke backe we did retyre.

78 1641.  Shute, Sarah & Hagar (1649), 148. Certainly, if Gods mercy be in a fire, our thankfulness must not be in a frost.

79 a. 1680.  Charnock, Wks. (1864), I. 195. We have a natural antipathy against a divine rule, and therefore when it is clapped close to our consciences, there is a snuffing at it, high reasonings against it, corruption breaks out more strongly: as water poured on lime sets it on fire by an antiperistasis.

80 1697.  Dampier, Voy., I. xv. 414. It thundered and lightned prodigiously, and the Sea seemed all of a Fire about us: for every Sea that broke sparkled like Lightning.

81 1724.  De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 142. They were all on fire to fall on; and I am persuaded had they been led immediately into a battle begun to their hands, they would have laid about them like furies, for there is nothing like victory to flush a young soldier.

82 1818.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, VI. iv.        For to the north I saw the town on fire, And its red light made morning pallid now, Which burst over wide Asia.

83 1857.  Trollope, Three Clerks, vii. When Sir Gregory Hardlines declared that Mr. Fidus Neverbend would never set the Thames on fire, he meant to express his opinion that that gentleman was a fool.

84 1871.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xvii. 80. But enough was carried beyond the sea to set on fire the minds of all those among William’s countrymen who had tarried by their own hearths while the land which sent forth such goodly stores was in winning.

85   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.

86 1644.  Digby, Two Treatises, I. xvii. 147. The Indian canes (which from thence are called firecanes) being rubbed with some other sticke of the same nature; if they be first very dry, will of themselues sett on fire.

87 1886.  Conway, Living or Dead, x. Now, don’t catch on fire like that, Philip.

88   3.  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.

89 a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 322 (Gr.). Laȝon þa oðre fynd on þam fyre.

90 c. 1205.  Lay., 1196. He halde þa milc in þat fur.

91 c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 12/373.        Op one gredire he leide him sethþe : ouer a gret fuyr and strong, To rosti ase men doth fersch flesch : þat were grece a-mong.

92 c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 907.        Sum-time it hentis me wiþ hete · as hot as ani fure, but quicliche so kene a cold · comes þer-after.

93 c. 1430.  Two Cookery-bks., 42. Do hem on a potte ouer þe fyre.

94 c. 1460.  Play Sacram., 682.        To make an ovyn as redd hott       as euer yt Can be made wt fere.

95 c. 1500.  Melusiue, xxxvi. 264. To long he had kept his fyre.

96 1533.  Gau, Richt Vay (1883), 31. As the gold is prouine in the fyr.

97 c. 1558[?].  Cavendish, Wolsey (1825), l. 204. Go down again, and make a great fire in your lodge, against I come to dry them.

98 1634.  Prynne, Documents agst. Prynne (Camden), 24. He condempnes the booke to the fyer, and the author and publisher, with my Lord Cottington.

99 1697.  Dryden, Æneid, II. 397.        With ancient Vesta from the sacred Quire, The Wreaths and Relicks of th’ Immortal Fire.

100 1717.  Berkeley, Tour in Italy, Wks. 1871, IV. 564. After several hours of windy rainy cold weather; forced to have a fire.

101 1735.  Pope, Donne Sat., II. 111.        We see no new-built palaces aspire, No kitchens emulate the vestal fire.

102 1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, ii. A good fire, with the assistance of a blazing lamp, spread light and cheerfulness through the apartment.

103 1854.  H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., v. (1857), 95. The second apartment, reckoning upwards, which was of considerable size, formed the sitting-room of the family, and had, in the old Highland style, its fire full in the middle of the floor, without back or sides; so that, like a bonfire kindled in the open air, all the inmates could sit around it in a wide circle.

104   b.  transf. and fig.; also in phr. near the fire.

105 1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 408. The other Princes & states, especially suche as are nere the fire.

106 1596.  Harington, Metam. Ajax (1814), 115–6. You may make a great fire of your gains, and be never the warmer; and may throw all mine into A JAX, and be never the poorer.

107 1611.  Bible, James iii. 6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquitie: so is the tongue amongst our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell.

108 1633.  P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., V. iii.        So shall my flagging Muse to heav’n aspire, Where with thy self thy fellow-shepherd sits; And warm her pineons at that heav’nly fire; But (ah!) such height no earthly shepherd fits.

109 1639.  Laud, in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1721), III. II. 899. Let him make a happy use of coming so near the Fire, and yet escape.

110 1665.  Hooke, Microgr., 210. Admire the excellent contrivance of Nature, in placing in Animals such a fire, as is continually nourished and supply’d by the materials convey’d into the stomach, and fomented by the bellows of the lungs.

111 1709.  Pope, Ess. Crit., 195.        Oh may some spark of your celestial fire, The last, the meanest of your sons inspire.

112   † c.  Fire of joy: a bonfire; = FEU DE JOIE 1.

113 a. 1674.  Clarendon, Relig. & Policy (1711), I. vi. 314. Preparations being made, according to custom, by the magistrates for making fires of joy, and other triumphant solemnities.

114   d.  The same serving as a beacon. [Cf. Da. fyr lighthouse.]

115 1711.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4893/3. The Fire [in a lighthouse] will be lighted … from the First Day of September.

116   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 sb.2 3 c.

117 a. 1300[?].  Salomon & Sat. (1848), 276. Brend child fur dredeþ, quoþ Hendyng.

118 1340.  Ayenb., 116. Þe ybernde uer dret.

119 c. 1530.  R. Hilles, Common-pl. Bk. (1858), 140. A softe ffyre makyth swete malte.

120 1550.  Coverdale, Spir. Perle, xiii. (1588), 141. A Burnt hande dreadeth the fire.

121 1663.  Butler, Hud., I. iii. 1251.          Hold, hold (quoth Hudibras), soft fire, They say, does make sweet Malt, Good Squire.

122   † f.  transf. in enumerations: A household. Obs.

123 1630.  R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., 214. Parishes; in some of which, a thousand people, or (as they terme it) a thousand housholders or fires doe inhabit.

124 1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xviii. 63–4. Because it was a Town of fifteen hundred fires, as we guessed, the next morning by break of day we set sail without any great notice taken of us.

125   † 4.  a. The means of lighting a fire or setting something alight; a live coal. b. Firing, fuel.

126 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3162 (Gött.).        Suord ne fir forgat he noght, And ȝong ysaac a fagett broght.

127 1540.  Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 6. With quarelles gunpouder, fyre, and touche.

128 1611.  Bible, Gen. xxii. 7. Behold the fire and wood: but where is the lambe for a burnt offring?

129   b.  1547.  Nottingham Rec., IV. 91. In exspenses for fyar and candelle, bred and alle iiijs. jd.

130 1635.  W. Brereton, Trav. (1844), 96. Here is a mighty want of fire in these moors; neither coal, nor wood, nor turf; only the cutt and flea top-turves with linge upon them.

131 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 274. Little extra expence attended the fixing at the rock, except a little more Lead, and a little more Fire.

132   5.  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.

133 c. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 239. Wic drednesse wurð þer þan þat fer to for him abernð þat middernad.

134 c. 1205.  Lay., 2159.        [He] fuhten wið his leoden mid fure & mid here.

135 c. 1325.  Know Thyself, 30, in E. E. P. (1862), 131. Hit fareþ as fuir of heth.

136 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 96. Fur on here houses.

137 1504.  Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 5. This yeare was a great fier at the ende of London Bridge next to St. Magnus.

138 1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 314. Spoylyng the Countrie with yron and fyre as he went.

139 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 9 b. These offices (for feare of fyre) you see, are all severed from the house.

140 1600.  Holland, Livy, VII. 269. In euerie place nothing but fire and sword.

141 1667.  Waterhouse (title), A short narrative of the late dreadful fire in London.

142 1724.  T. Richers, Hist. R. Geneal. Spain, 53. They … put all to Fire and Sword.

143 1738.  Johnson, London, 13.        Here Malice, Rapine, Accident, conspire, And now a Rabble rages, now a Fire.

144 1780.  in Lett. 1st Earl Malmesbury (1870) I. 465. This night we are quiet, and I hear no attempts at fire have been made, but I have too good reason to fear that further mischief is still to be expected, and that the authors of these infernal practices have laid their schemes very deeply.

145 1781.  Cowper, Conv., 755.        Nor shall be found in unregenerate souls Till the last fire burn all between the poles.

146 1820.  Shelley, Ode to Naples, 148.        They come! The fields they tread look black and hoary With fire—from their red feet the streams run gory!

147 1830.  Westm. Rev., XIII. Oct., 313. ‘The dissolution of social order,’ which our fire-and-sword logicians so long and confidently preached as the infallible consequence of the establishment of such maxims of government.

148 1855.  Trollope, Warden, xix. That would be saving something out of the fire.

149 1862.  H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II. 428. Arvika—a place boasting a few streets of wooden houses, wisely placed at fire’s-length from each other.

150   fig.  1548.  Hall, Chron., 99 b. The greate fire of this discencion, betwene these twoo noble personages, was thus by the arbitratours to their knowledge and judgement, utterly quenched out.

151 1654.  trans. Scudery’s Curia Politiæ, 3. To see this fire extinguished, before the flame grew higher.

152   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.

153 1681.  Visct. Stair, Instit. Law Scot., IV. xxxviii. § 27 (1693), 662. Sometimes they are commanded to appear under the pain of Treason, and Letters of Fire and Sword are given out against them.

154 a. 1768.  Erskine, Instit. Sc. Law, IV. iii. § 17 (1773), 691. If a party was so obstinate as to oppose by force the execution of these letters of ejection, and still to continue his possession in despite of the law, the Scots privy council, while that court subsisted, granted letters of fire and sword, authorising the sheriff to call for the assistance of the county, and dispossess him by all the methods of force.

155 1861.  W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., s.v.

156   c.  An exclamation used as a call for aid at a conflagration.

157 1682.  N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, IV. 201.        And one cryes, Fire! Fire! Fire! the Church doth burn A second time.

158 1819.  T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem., 21.        And ’twas only by calling ‘your wife, Sir, your wife!’ (As a man would cry ‘fire!’) they could start him to life.

159   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.

160 c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, lxv[i]. 12. We leordun ðorh fyr & weter.

161 1534.  Hervet, trans. Xenophon’s Householde, 61 b. They that can brynge theyr soudiours in to suche affection and beleue, that they wolde gladly folowe theym through fyre and water, and throughe all maner of daunger.

162 1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., II. ii. 103. Lys. And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake. Ibid. (1598), Merry W., III. iv. 107. A woman would run through fire & water for such a kinde heart.

163 1660.  Jer. Taylor, Worthy Communicant, ii. § 1. 119. We also are to examine what we are likely to be, or what we have been, in the day of persecution; how we have passed through the fire.

164 1781.  Cowper, Expostulation, 518.        Thy soldiery, the pope’s well manag’d pack, Were train’d beneath his lash and knew the smack, And when he laid them on the scent of blood, Would hunt a Saracen through fire and blood.

165 a. 1796.  Burns, The Ronalds of the Bennals, 19.        The Laird o’ Blackbyre wad gang through the fire   If that wad entice her awa, man.

166   6.  Torture or death by burning. Also, Fire and faggot: see FAGGOT 2. Hence † (To persuade) by fire: by extreme inducements.

167 1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. iii. 9. And are not sometime perswaded by fire beyond their literalities.

168 1718.  Prior, Charity, 8.        Did Shadrach’s Zeal my glowing Breast inspire, To weary Tortures, and rejoice in Fire.

169   7.  Lightning; a flash of lightning; a thunderbolt. More fully, † levenes fire, fire of heaven. † Electrical fire: the electric fluid, electricity.

170 1154.  O. E. Chron. an. 1122. Com se fir on ufen weard þone stepel.

171 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 3046. Ðhunder, and hail, and leuenes fir.

172 c. 1300.  Cursor M., 19613 (Cott.). Þe fire of heuen þar has him stunt.

173 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 102.        And þenne falleth þer fur On false menne houses.

174 1747.  Franklin, Lett., Wks. 1840, V. 186. We think that ingenious gentleman was deceived, when he imagined (in his Sequel), that the electrical fire came down the wire from the ceiling to the gun-barrel, thence to the sphere, and so electrized the machine and the man turning the wheel, &c. Ibid. (1748), 215. Those vapors, which have both common and electrical fire in them, are better supported than those which have only common fire in them.

175 1820.  Shelley, Ode W. Wind, ii. 14.        Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: Oh hear!

176   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.

177 1602.  Dekker, Satiro-mastix, E iij. We must haue false fiers to amaze these spangle babies.

178 1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xx. 71. Besides what the Harquebusiers had already delivered to them, nine hundred pots of artificial fire.

179 1662.  J. Davies, trans. Mandelslo’s Trav., 51. The Artificial Fires, which are made use of to frighten these Creatures [Elephants], put them into such a disorder, that they doe much more mischief among those who brought them to the Field, then they do among the Enemies.

180 1700.  J. Jackson, in Pepys, Diary, VI. 232. The rockets, and other smaller fires, were in abundance, and the principal part which concluded the whole, was an engagement between a Castle and 4 Men-of-War, which were contrived to move, and though they played their parts very well, were at last overcome.

181 1777.  G. Forster, Voy. Round World, II. 92. To amuse him we let off some false fires at the mast-head, with which he was highly entertained.

182   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.

183 a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 402. Þis Grickische fur is þe luue of ure Lourde.

184 c. 1477.  Caxton, Jason, 101 b. The two bulles whiche behelde him right fiersly and asprely with her eyen sparklyng and brennyng as fyre Grekyssh.

185 1855.  J. Hewitt, Anc. Armour, I. 90. The receipt for the composition of the Greek Fire may be found in the Treatise of Marcus Grecus.

186   9.  Coal Mining. = FIREDAMP.

187 1883.  in Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining.

188   10.  Luminosity or glowing appearance resembling that of fire.

189 1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. i. 12.        His sparkling Eyes, repleat with wrathfull fire, More dazled and droue back his Enemies, Then mid-day Sunne, fierce bent against their faces.     Ibid. (1605), Macb., I. iv. 51.             Starres, hide your fires, Let not Light see my black and deepe desires.

190 1735.  Pope, Prol. Sat., 5.        Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand, They rave, recite, and madden round the land.

191 1821.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 762. Their soft smiles light the air like a star’s fire.

192 1865.  J. C. Wilcocks, Sea Fisherman (1875), 271. Should the ‘brime’ or ‘fire’ show itself, the fish will not be likely to strike the nets again till just before dawn.

193 1873.  Black, Pr. Thule, x. 164. A great fire of sunset spread over the west, and the far woods became of a rich purple, streaked here and there with lines of pale white mist.

194   b.  Fires of heaven, heavenly fires: (poet.) the stars. Fires of St. Elmo: see CORPOSANT. † Fatuous, foolish fire (obs.) = IGNIS FATUUS.

195 1563.  W. Fulke, Meteors (1640), 11 b. This impression seene on the land, is called in Latine Ignis fatuus, foolish fire, that hurteth not, but onely feareth fooles.

196 1607.  Shaks., Cor., I. iv. 39.        Or by the fires of heauen, Ile leaue the Foe, And make my Warres on you.

197 1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 256.                        Before him burn Seaven Lamps as in a Zodiac representing The Heav’nly fires.

198 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. xxi. 134. Floating bodies of fire, which assume different names, rather from their accidental forms than from any real difference between them, are seen without surprise. The draco volans or flying dragon, as it is called; the ignis fatuus, or wandering fire; the fires of St. Helmo, or the mariner’s light, are every where frequent: and of these we have numberless descriptions.

199 1847.  Tennyson, The Princess, iv. 255.        And made the single jewel on her brow Burn like the mystic fire on a mast head, Prophet of storm.

200   11.  Heating quality (in liquors, etc.); concr. in jocular use, ‘something to warm one,’ ardent spirit. Also (see quot. 1819).

201 1737.  Fielding, Hist. Reg., II. Wks. 1882, X. 223. We’ll go take a little fire, for ’tis confounded cold upon the stage.

202 1819.  Rees, Cycl., XIV. s.v. Fire, Also the heat of fermenting substances, and of other kinds of chemical combinations, has often been called their fire.

203 1851.  Thackeray, Eng. Hum., ii. Joseph was of a cold nature, and needed perhaps the fire of wine to warm his blood.

204 1883.  Stevenson, Silverado Sq., 37. One corner of land after another is tried with one kind of grape after another…. Those lodes and pockets of earth, more precious than the precious ores, that yield inimitable fragrance and soft fire; those virtuous Bonanzas, where the soil has sublimated under sun and stars to something finer, and the wine is bottled poetry: these still lie undiscovered.

205   12.  Burning heat produced by disease; fever, inflammation. Also disease viewed as a consuming agency. St. Anthony’s fire: erysipelas; also, † wild fire, WILDFIRE. † St. Francis’ fire (Spenser): ? = St. Anthony’s fire.

206 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Parson’s T., ¶ 427. By the fyr of seint Antony, or by cancre, or by other swich meschaunce.

207 c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 223. Panaricium is an enpostym … aboute þe nail and is swiþe hoot and … ful of fier.

208 1580.  Baret, Alv., F 447. S. Antonies fire, ignis sacer.

209 1580.  Blundevil, Horsemanship, IV. clxv. 69. You must get it [the pellet] out with an instrument meet for the purpose. Then to kill the fire. Take [etc.].

210 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 35.          All these, and many evils moe haunt Ire,   The swelling Splene, and Frenzy raging rife,   The shaking Palsey, and Saint Fraunces fire: Such one was Wrath, the last of this ungodly tire.

211 1686.  Lady Russell, Lett., I. xxxvi. 94. She has been ill of St. Anthony’s fire, as we call it.

212 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 727.        Strange Death! For when the thirsty Fire had drunk Their vital Blood, and the dry Nerves were shrunk.

213 1737.  H. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1756), I. 301. The Inflammation, which they term Fire, will go off by a Discharge of Serous and other Humours from such superficial Wounds.

214 1843.  Sir T. Watson, Lect. Physic, II. lxxxix. 767. Erysipelas … called in Scotland the rose, and in this country St. Anthony’s fire.

215 1866.  G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xxvi. (1878), 460. Her face, once more flushed in those two spots with the glow of the unseen fire of disease.

216   13.  In certain figurative applications of sense 1.

217   a.  A burning passion or feeling, esp. of love or rage.

218 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, Prol. Þai … kyndils þaire willis wiþ þe fyre of luf.

219 1435.  Misyn, Fire of Love, 1. Richard Hampole, hys boke has named Incendium Amoris, þat is to say ‘þe fyer of lufe.’

220 1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. i. 68. Entertaine him with hope, till the wicked fire of lust haue melted him in his owne greace.

221 1694.  F. Bragge, Practical Discourses upon the Parables of Our Blessed Saviour, xii. 408. Rage, and Fury, and Impatience, and the like, which attend unsatisfied Desires, are likewise frequently attended with the Epithet of Fire.

222 1780.  Cowper, Table T., 605.                    And there reel’d The victim of his own lascivious fires, And dizzy with delight, profaned the sacred wires.

223 1818.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, X. xl.                    Fear killed in every breast   All natural pity then, a fear unknown   Before, and with an inward fire possest, They raged like homeless beasts whom burning woods invest.

224 1859.  Tennyson, Enid, 955.                    He fain had spoken to her, And loosed in words of sudden fire the wrath And smoulder’d wrong that burnt him all within.

225   b.  Ardour of temperament; ardent courage or zeal; fervour, enthusiasm, spirit.

226 1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., I. ii. 177.          Cassi.  I am glad that my weake words Haue strucke but thus much shew of fire from Brutus.

227 1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 61, 30 Aug., ¶ 1. Among many Phrases which have crept into Conversation … there is not one which misleads me more, than that of a Fellow of a great deal of Fire.

228 1814.  Sporting Mag., XLIV. 92. Both were full of fire and courage.

229 1865.  Kingsley, Herew. (1866), II. i. 5. Hereward haranguing them in words of fire.

230   c.  Liveliness and warmth of imagination, brightness of fancy; power of genius, vivacity; poetic inspiration.

231 1656.  Cowley, 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.

232 1680–90.  Temple, Ess. Poetry, Wks. 1731, I. 237. Homer had more Fire and Rapture, Virgil more Light and Swiftness; or at least the Poetical Fire was more raging in one, but clearer in the other, which makes the first more amazing and the latter more agreeable.

233 1737.  Pope, Hor. Epist., II. i. 274.        Exact Racine, and Corneille’s noble fire, Show’d us that France had something to admire.

234 1847.  Illust. Lond. News, 10 July, 27/1. As an actress, she has fire and intelligence.

235 1869.  J. Martineau, Ess., II. 228. For the poet there is a season of inward fire which must not be permitted to damp itself down; its later gleams are fitful, and do not suffice to conquer the colder colouring of mere thought.

236 1877.  R. W. Dale, Lect. Preach., i. 26. They have neither the fire of a human genius nor the fire of a Divine zeal.

237   14.  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. † Weapon of fire = FIRE-ARM.

238   [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 sb. as it occurs in the phrase to give fire (see 1 f) = F. faire feu.]

239 1590.  J. Smythe, Concern. Weapons, 27. Liking the aforesaid weapons of fire, because they fill means ears and eyes, with such terrible fire, smoke, and noise.

240 1600.  Sir John Oldcastle, V. ix.        Accursed place! but most unconstant fate, That hast reserved him from the bullet’s fire, And suffered him to ’scape the wood-kerns’ fury.

241 1657.  R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 8. Some of the Soldiers of the Castle gave fire upon them.

242 1706.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4243/1. We made … great fire all Night with our Cannon.

243 1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 80, 11 Oct., ¶ 9. The Charge began with the Fire of Bombs and Grenades, which was so hot, that the Enemy quitted their Post, and we lodged our selves on those Works without Opposition.

244 1815.  Scott, Paul’s Lett. (1839), 112. ‘One fire,’ said a general officer, whom I have already quoted, ‘struck down seven men of the square with whom I was for the moment; the next was less deadly—it only killed three.’

245 1816.  Sporting Mag., XLVIII. 237. A learned Barrister was practising a fire at a mark.

246 1847.  Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, iv. Any time that we are not in great want of venison, you shall have the first fire.

247 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 280. Though most of Mackay’s men had never before been under fire, their behaviour gave promise of Blenheim and Ramilies.

248 1859.  F. A. Griffiths, The Artillerist’s Manual (1862), 248. A direct fire from a battery is when the line of fire is perpendicular to the parapet.

249 1885.  Times, 20 Feb., 5/6. He was about to find himself placed between two fires—viz. the Mahdi and the reinforced garrison of Metammeh.

250   fig.  1792.  Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 17. If they have received the fire of the grand juries with a good countenance, I shall hope every thing will go on well.

251 1848.  Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., ix. Miss Belinda opening the fire, by saying she understood Mrs. Hoggarty had been calumniating her.

252   b.  False fire: see FALSE a. 14 b. Reverse, running fire: see the adjs. Also transf. Kentish fire, a mode of applauding by ‘volleys’ of hand-clapping, etc.: see KENTISH.

253   c.  To hang, miss fire: see the vbs.

254   B.  Fire- in Comb.

255   I.  General relations.

256   1.  attributive. a. gen. (sense 1), as fire-chariot, -colour, -crag, -flame, -flash, flood, -glance, -heat, † -leme, -ordeal, -storm, -stream; (sense 3), as fire-beacon, -blaze, -coal, -link, -shine, -signal; (sense 14), as fire-shock.

257 1804.  Edin. Rev., III. 430. For the Amonian *firebeacons, placed on a round eminence, were called Tith; and such a beacon was Tith-onus, the husband of Aurora, so famous for his longevity.

258 1605.  Verstegan, Dec. Intell., iii. (1628), 80. This Idoll was made like the Image of death and naked saue onely a sheet about him. In his right hand hee held a torch, or as they terme it a *fire-blase.

259 1849.  Southey, Comm.-pl. Bk., Ser. II. 391. Elijah dropping his cloak as the *fire-chariot carries him away.

260 1640.  Witt’s Recreations, Epitaphs, On a Candle.        Here lyes (I wot) a little star That did belong to Jupiter, Which from him Prometheus stole, And with it a *fire-coale.

261 a. 1672.  P. S[terry], Wks. (1710), II. 283. The Fire-Coals, which our Saviour taught his Disciples to cast on their Enemies, were bright Beams of Truth; gentle Showers of Sweetness and Love.

262 1802.  T. Beddoes, Hygëia, v. 17. P. How hot! N. She has been like a fire-coal these two hours.

263 1811.  Pinkerton, Petral., II. 96. Mr. Shaw again paid us a visit so late as November 1792, when he exhibited some most brilliant specimens of Labrador spar; particularly one of fine, extremely bright, and variegated colours; one pretty large, of the scarce *fire-colour with the purple tinge.

264 1821.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. 332.          Ha! ha! the caverns of my hollow mountains,   My cloven *fire-crags, sound-exulting fountains, Laugh with a vast and inextinguishable laughter.

265 1817.  Coleridge, Sibyl. Leaves (1828), II. 304.        The shadows dance upon the wall,   By the still dancing *fire-flames made; And now they slumber, moveless all!   And now they melt to one deep shade!

266 1586.  Fetherstone (title), Brutish Thunderbolt, or rather Feeble-*Fier-Flash of Pope Sixtus the Fift, against Henrie … of Navarre.

267 1632.  Lithgow, Trav., I. 35. Lady of the Shepherds, from earthquakes, thunder, and fire-flashes.

268 1842.  Barham, Ingol. Leg., Smuggler’s Leap.        The fire-flash shines from Reculver cliff, And the answering light burns blue in the skiff.

269 1821.  Joanna Baillie, Metr. Leg., Wallace, xxvi.        New-waked wretches stood aghast To see the *fire-flood in their rear, Close to their breast the pointed spear, And in wild horrour yell’d their last.

270 a. 1835.  Mrs. Hemans, Poems, The League of the Alps, iv.        Up where the sun’s red *fire-glance earliest fell, And the fresh pastures where the herd’s sweet bell.

271 1823.  J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 65. *Fire-heat at 212° of Fahrenheit produced detonation.

272 a. 1000.  Satan 128 (Gr.).                    *Fyrleoma stod ȝeond þæt atole scræf attre ȝeblonden.

273 1494.  Fabyan, Chron., VII. ccxxiv. 250. Many grisly and vncouthe syghtes were this yere seen in Englonde, as hostis of men fyghtyng in the skye, & fyre lemys.

274 1579–80.  North, Plutarch (1676), 884. Tying Torches of *Fire-links unto their horns, he appointed the nimblest men he had to light them.

275 1711.  Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), III. i. 41, note. Savanarola preach’d; but made no such confident Offer, nor durst he venture at that new kind of *Fire-Ordeal.

276 1871.  Rossetti, Poems, My Sister’s Sleep, v.        Through the small room, with subtle sound   Of flame, by vents the *fireshine drove   And reddened. In its dim alcove The mirror shed a clearness round.

277 1824.  J. Symmons, trans. Æschylus’ Agamemnon, 31, note. This description of the *fire-signals is very finely imagined, and executed with great spirit and sublimity.

278 1581.  J. Merbecke, A Booke of Notes and Common places, 478. Helias … was taken vp into Heauen in a *fire storme.

279 1811.  W. J. Hooker, Iceland (1813), II. 142. The *fire-stream over-ran the southern district beneath.

280   b.  Of or pertaining to the worship of fire, as fire-deity, -god, -spirit, -temple. Also FIRE-WORSHIP, -WORSHIPPER.

281 1871.  Tylor, Prim. Cult., II. xvi. 252. We have in this region explicit statements as to a distinct *fire-deity. Ibid., 253. The *Fire-spirit has great influence with the winged aërial supreme deity, wherefore the Indians implore him to be their interpreter, to procure them success in hunting and fishing, fleet horses, obedient wives, and male children.

282 1815.  Moore, Lalla R. (1817), 258.        Heap’d by his own, his comrades’ hands,   Of every wood of odorous breath, There, by the *Fire-God’s shrine it stands,   Ready to fold in radiant death The few still left of those who swore To perish there, when hope was o’er.

283 1741.  D. Wray, in Athen. Lett. (1792), II. 470. He will give orders for several alterations in the villa, and lay the foundation of a *fire-temple.

284   c.  In the names of various receptacles for burning fuel, as fire-bag, -basket, -cage, -chauffer.

285 1843.  Portlock, Geol., 682. On the outside [of the kiln], also, of each of the eyes, or large fire-holes, a niche is formed to receive the fuel, and is called a *fire-bag.

286 1855.  H. Clarke, Dict., *Fire-basket, portable grate.

287 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 862/2. *Fire-cage. A skeleton box or basket of iron for holding lighted fuel.

288 1558.  Inv. R. Hyndmer, in Wills & Inv. (Surtees), 162. Ij *fyer chavffers.

289   d.  Pertaining to the fire of a hearth or furnace, as fire-bellows, -block, -blower, -brush, -cheek, † -cricket, -door, -grate, -nook, -rake, -set, † -stock, -stove.

290 c. 1475.  Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 779. Hoc reposilium, a *fyirbelowys.

291 1836.  F. Mahoney, Rel. Father Prout, ii. (1859), 247.        He said, ‘Give me some food.’—   Brown loaf I gave, and homely wine,   And made the kindling *fireblocks shine, To dry his cloak with wet bedewed.

292 1884.  Health Exhib. Catal., 65/1. Patent *Fire Blower, for … regulating the draught in ordinary grates.

293 a. 1745.  Swift, Direct. Servants, Footman. When you are ordered to stir up the Fire, clean away the Ashes from betwixt the Bars with the *Fire-Brush.

294 1884.  Health Exhib. Catal., 82/1. *Fire Cheeks and Hearths of Marble Mosaic.

295 1530.  Palsgr., 220/2. *Fyre crycket, cricquet.

296 1859.  Rankine, Steam Engine, § 304. The *fire-door, which closes the mouth-piece or doorway, and which may or may not have openings and valves in it to admit air.

297 1664.  Evelyn, Kat. Hort. (1729), 229. Let it be yet so built, that the *Fire-grate stand about three Feet higher than the Floor or Area of the House.

298 1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, xlix. I then, to their great astonishment, went to the fire-grate,—threw out some rubbish which was put into it,—pulled up the iron back, and removed the bricks.

299 1845.  R. W. Hamilton, Pop. Educ., ii. (ed. 2), 21. Their huts are seen and their *fire-nooks exposed.

300 1660.  Hexham, Een kam-slock, a *Fire-rake which Brewers and Bakers use.

301 1855.  H. Clarke, Dict., *Fire-set, fireirons.

302 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 161/2. *Fyyr stok.

303 1756.  Toldervy, Hist. Two Orph., III. 205. He came with … his head into the *fire stove.

304   6.  In the names of implements or instruments bearing, containing, or sending forth fire, as fire-arrow, -cane, -gun, -shaft, -spear, -weapon.

305 1720.  De Foe, Capt. Singleton, xvii. (1840), 291. They would immediately come all running down to the shore, and shoot *fire-arrows at you, and set your boat and ship and all on fire about your ears.

306 1809.  Naval Chron., XXII. 374. We should indulge them [pirates], at seasonable opportunities, with a few shot and shells, not forgetting Congreve’s fire arrows.

307 1887.  Graphic, 17 Dec., 662/1. He … had produced a *‘fire-cane,’ which warmed its owner’s hand, and supplied him with lighting for his cigar.

308 1680.  H. More, Apocal. Apoc., 88. Which Centaures here are set out still more monstrously, as killing men by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths; as it may seem at a distance when they let off their *Fireguns and Pistols.

309 1628.  (title) A new invention of Shooting *Fire-Shafts in Long-Bowes.

310 1549.  Compl. Scot., vi. 42. Mak reddy ȝour corsbollis, hand bollis, *fyir speyris, hail schot, lancis, pikkis, halbardis, rondellis, tua handit sourdis and tairgis.

311 1616.  Bingham, Ælian’s Tactics, ii. 25, note. The *fire-weapons haue theire advantages.

312 1860.  J. Hewitt, Anc. Armour, Supp. 489. The fire-pot of the Arabian treatise described in our first volume is here seen in action; and from the accounts in that old treatise of the analogous fire-weapons, the ‘massue de guerre,’ the ‘massue pour asperger,’ &c., we may gather a pretty accurate notion both of the manner of constructing and applying these diabolical agents.

313   f.  In the names of various kinds of fireworks, as fire-cracker, † -lance, † -sword, † -target.

314 1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Fire-crackers, a preparation of gunpowder, &c., discharged for amusement.

315 1634.  J. 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.

316   g.  Pertaining to a conflagration (sense 5), (a) gen. as fire-bell, -drum, -gown, -ladder, -loss, -shell, -telegraph, -watch; (b) used in kindling a conflagration, as fire-bavin, -fagot, -mixture; (c) concerned with the extinction of a conflagration, as fire-barrow, -boat, -bucket, -float, -main, -marshal (U.S.), -pipe, -pump.

317 1890.  Daily News, 9 Jan., 2/5. *Fire barrows and hose were quickly on the spot.

318 1832.  Webster, *Firebavin, a bundle of brush-wood, used in fireships.

319 a. 1626.  Middleton, Changeling, V.                Hooks, buckets, ladders; thats well said, The *fire-bell rings.

320 1867.  Dickens, Lett., 22 Dec. (1880), II. 320. I don’t think a single night has passed since I have been under the protection of the Eagle, but I have heard the fire bells dolefully clanging all over the city.

321 1876.  N. Y. Nautical Gaz., in Pract. Mag., VI. 73. An iron *fire-boat.

322 1585.  Higgins, trans. Junius’ Nomenclator, 279. Incendiarij siphones.… *Fire buckets, or any thing seruing to quench fire.

323 1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xxvii. Rows of fire-buckets for dashing out a conflagration in its first spark, and saving the immense wealth in notes and bonds belonging to the company.

324 1814.  Scott, Wav., xxxiv. The drum advanced, beating no measured martial time, but a kind of rub-a-dub-dub like that with which the *fire-drum alarms the slumbering artisans of a Scotch burgh.

325 1828–40.  Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), I. 137. Iron chains, with grappling hooks attached to them, and piles of *fire-fagots, mixed with bundles of pitch and flax, bound into large masses, shaped like casks, were in readiness.

326 1887.  Daily News, 18 June, 3/5. Five *fire-floats were quickly sent from ships in the harbour.

327 1874.  Mrs. Whitney, We Girls, xii. 249. Mrs. Hobart has a *‘fire-gown.’ That is what she calls it; she made it for a fire, or for illness, or any night-alarm.

328 1832.  Examiner, 700/1. It was 20 minutes … before the *fire-ladders were brought.

329 1891.  Daily News, 30 Nov., 5/4. A professional *fire-loss assessor.

330 1855.  H. Clarke, Dict., *Fire-main, waterpipe for occasions of conflagration.

331 1894.  Stead, If Christ came to Chicago! 295–6. *Fire-Marshal Swenie has remained in command of the firemen for many years, and the administration of the department has been conducted on business principles, with results in efficiency which are a standing reproof to every other department in the city.

332 1855.  J. Hewitt, Anc. Armour, I. 90. The terrors of these early *fire-mixtures were enhanced by the belief that not only they, but the flames kindled by them, were inextinguishable by water.

333 c. 1865.  Ld. Brougham, in Circ. Sc., I. Introd. 6. Water runs when forced out of a pump, or from a *fire-pipe, or from the spout of a kettle or tea-pot.

334 1892.  Pall Mall G., 9 Feb., 2/1. The *fire-pump … has a throwing power of sixty feet above the highest pinnacle of the hotel.

335 1818.  M. G. Lewis, Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834), 70. A *fire-shell is blown, and all the negroes of the adjoining plantations hasten to give their assistance.

336 1694.  Acc. Sweden, 27. There is also a *Fire-Watch by Night, who walks about only to that Purpose; and in each Church-Steeple Watch is kept, and a Bell tolled upon the first Appearance of any Fire.

337 1673.  F. Kirkman, Unlucky Citizen, A iij b. The next year 1666 being the *Fire year.

338   2.  objective (sense 1), as fire-bringer, -spewer, -striker, -user; fire-bearing, -belching, -breathing, -darting, -foaming, -resisting, -spitting, -using adjs.; (sense 3), as fire-holder, -keeper, -kindler, -trimmer; fire-making vbl. sb.; fire-kindling vbl. sb. and adj.; (sense 5), as fire-annihilator, -extinguisher, -extinguishing, -quencher, -quenching.

339 1849.  Mech. Mag., LI. 424. The so-called *Fire Annihilator of Mr. Phillips.

340 1853.  Grote, Greece, II. lxxxiv. XI. 153. To accelerate the process, and to forestal Dion’s arrival, which they fully expected—they set fire to the city in several places, with torches and *fire-bearing arrows.

341 1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iv. 22.        That, having learn’d of their *Fire breathing Horses, Their course, their light, their labor, & their forces.

342 1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. VI. i. 267. On a sudden, the Earth yawns asunder, and amid Tartarean smoke, and glare of fierce brightness, rises Sansculottism, many-headed, fire-breathing.

343 1594.  Marlowe & Nashe, Dido, I. i.        As I, exhal’d with thy *fire-darting beames, Have oft driven back the horses of the Night, Whenas they would have hal’d thee from my sight.

344 1769.  Goldsm., Hist. Rome (1786), I. 199. The Samnites at length fled, averring that they were not able to withstand the fierce looks and the fire darting eyes of the Romans.

345 1849.  Mech. Mag., LI. 381. The patentee next describes a portable *fire-extinguisher.

346 1876.  N. Y. Nautical Gaz., in Pract. Mag., VI. 73. This boat and her *fire-extinguishing apparatus deserve detailed description.

347 1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., II. (1593), 31.        His *fier-foming steedes full fed with juice of ambrosie They take from manger trimly dight.

348 1872.  H. W. Taunt, Map Thames, 49/1. Camp furniture need not be very elaborate. A frying-pan, pot, and kettle, all to fit a *fireholder.

349 1881.  Greener, Gun (ed. 2), 45. These fire-holders were usually attached to the girdle.

350 1873.  L. Wallace, Fair God, V. iv. 278. When my sword is at the throats of the *fire-keepers [of an Aztec temple], Heaven help me to slay them!

351 1643.  [Angier], Lanc. Vall. Achor, 21. God presently commanded the winde to blow from another point, to darken and smother the *fire-kindlers.

352 1849.  E. C. Otté, trans. Humboldt’s Cosmos, II. 508, note. The ideal relation of the ‘fire-kindler’ (πυρκαεύς), Prometheus, to the burning mountain. Ibid. The unbinding of the *fire-kindling Titan on the Caucasus by Hercules.

353 1884.  Q. Victoria, More Leaves, 107. Brown begged I would drink to the *‘fire-kindling.’

354 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 369. Som sayd it was long on the *fuyr-makyng.

355 1865.  E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, ix. 228. There are a number of stories, old and new, of tribes of mankind living in ignorance of the art of fire-making.

356 1690.  Norris, Beatitudes (1692), 178. The business of a *Fire-quencher, who, tho’ he may, with plying of Engins, and great a-do, rescue the Pile of Building from the devouring Flames, yet his Eyes will be sure to smart with the Smoak.

357 1718.  J. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos. (1730), II. xvii. § 25. The Pumps in a *Fire-quenching-Engine do, by pressing the Water, raise a mighty Stream.

358 1612.  Sturtevant, Metallica (1854), 116. Maintained with such *fier-resisting meanes that it cannot possibly melte or burne down.

359 1850.  Chubb, Locks & Keys, 24. Safes which were sold as fire-resisting.

360 1483.  Cath. Angl., 132/1. A *Fire spewer, igniuomus.

361 1631.  T. Fuller, David’s Heinous Sin, xxxix.        So that *fire-spitting cannons to the cost Of Christian blood, all valour have engross’d, Whose finding makes that many a life is lost.

362 1483.  Cath. Angl., 132/1. A *Fire stryker, fugillator.

363 1891.  Daily News, 26 Sept., 2/5. Prisoner and Jensen joined the ship … as *fire-trimmers.

364 1865.  E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, ix. 235. It will be safer to wait for more evidence before deciding positively that any known race of *fire-users have not also been fire-makers, especially as the carrying about of burning brands, so as to be able to make a fire wherever they went at a moment’s notice, was the habitual practice in parts of Australia where the natives were perfectly able to make new fire, if they chose, with their fire-drill.

365 1862.  D. Wilson, Preh. Man, v. (1865), 82. Man is peculiarly *fire-using.

366   3.  instrumental, locative, and originative, as fire-baptism; fire-armed, -baptized, -bellied, -born, -burning, -burnt, -clad, † -coached, -cracked, -crowned, -footed, -gilt, † -given, -hardened, -hooped, -lighted, -lipped, -lit, -marked, -mouthed, -pitted, -robed, -scarred, -scathed, -seamed, -warmed, -wheeled, -winged adjs.

367 1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. I. Eden, 248.        Where, for three Ladies (as assuréd guard) A *fire-arm’d Dragon day and night did ward?

368 1682.  Dryden & Lee, Dk. of Guise, III. i.        I ’ll meet him now, though fire-armed cherubins Should cross my way. O jealousy of love!

369 1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. vii. It is from this hour that I incline to date my Spiritual New-birth, or Baphometic *Fire-baptism; perhaps I directly thereupon began to be a Man. Ibid., II. viii. The *fire-baptised soul, long so scathed and thunder-riven, here feels its own Freedom, which feeling is its Baphometic Baptism.

370 1892.  Daily News, 5 May, 5/4. The little *‘fire-bellied toad,’ of … poisonous properties.

371 1846.  R. Chambers, Vestiges Creat., vi. (ed. 5), 95. The numerous upbursts and intrusions of *fire-born rock.

372 c. 1275.  Death, 215, in O. E. Misc., 180.        And swo he me wule for-swolehen   þe *fur-berninde drake.

373 c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 290/86. *Furbarnd he was þoru Iuggemont.

374 1573.  Twyne, Æneid, XI. Kk iij. Poales of length firebrent at end.

375 1615.  Sylvester, Hymne Almes, 55.        Shee, who so free the *Fire-Coacht Prophet fed, Found happy Guerdon: for (her Darling dead).

376 1836–48.  B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Acharnians, IV. ii.                    I see it rings With a harsh jar, like *fire-cracked things,   And gods and men forsake it.

377 1870.  Tennyson, Window, 150.        Look, look, how he flits,   The *fire-crown’d king of the wrens, from out of the pine!

378 1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., II. (1593), 39.        By that time that he hath assayde the unappalled force That doth remaine and rest within my *firiefooted horse.

379 1613.  Chapman, 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.

380 1627.  May, Lucan, III. 535 (1635), E iij b.        But from above with fires, with often strokes Of broken bars, stakes, and *fire harden’d oaks.

381 1621.  G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., II. 392.        Then will he find, that he, who could not guide Those *fire-hooft Steeds, deserv’d not to have dy’d.

382 1850.  Lynch, Theo. Trin., v. 80. The zenith glows like the ceiling of a cheerful, *fire-lighted room.

383 1839.  Bailey, Festus, iv. (1848), 31.        I gaze on river, sea, isle, continent, Mountain, and wood, and wild, and *fire-lipped hill.

384 1849.  Miss Mulock, Ogilvies (1875), 109. In a minute the pleasant *fire-lit room where Mrs. Breynton and Eleanor held their after-dinner chat, was brightened by a presence welcome to both.

385 1705.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4114/4. A brown Mare … *fire-marked I. I. in the near Buttock.

386 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. ix. 52.          What meanest thou by this reprochfull strife?   Is this the battell, which thou vauntst to fight With that *fire-mouthed Dragon, horrible and bright?

387 1759.  Mountaine, in Phil. Trans., LI. 290. The sheets and quilt of a bed, near the bell-wire, [were] scorched and *fire-pitted in like manner.

388 1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 27.                            Iupiter, Became a Bull, and bellow’d: the greene Neptune A ram, and bleated: and the *Fire-roab’d-God Golden Apollo, a poore humble Swaine, As I seeme now.

389 1853.  C. Kingsley, Hypatia, xiii. 147. Between the bare walls of a doleful *fire-scarred tower in the Campagna of Rome.

390 1848.  Mrs. Jameson, Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850), 64. The form of the demon is human, but vulgar in its proportions and of a swarthy red, as if *fire-scathed.

391 1815.  Milman, Fazio (1821), 79.        If thou ’rt a fiend, what hellish right hast thou To shroud thy leprous and *fire-seamed visage In lovely lineaments, like my Bianca’s?

392 1856.  Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xv. 173. The cabin, our only *fire-warmed apartment, is the workshop, kitchen, parlor, and hall.

393 1822.  Milman, Martyr of Antioch, 121.              Nor e’er doth ancient Night presume       Her gloomy state to re-assume;       While he the wide world rules alone, And high o’er men and Gods drives on his *fire-wheel’d throne.

394 1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. 654.        Incessantly th’apt tinding fume is tost Till it inflame; then like a Squib it falls, Or *fire-wing’d shaft, or sulph’ry Powder balls.

395 1826.  Milman, A. Boleyn (1827), 39.        Oh! all-accomplish’d More, and sainted Fisher, Rejoice ye not that with your death ye rouse The fire-wing’d ministers of Heaven’s just wrath.

396   b.  In names of occupations, processes, etc., carried on by the aid of fire, as fire-hunt, † -trade; fire-fishing, -gilding, -hunting, -offering, -polishing, -stivering vbl. sbs. Also forming verbs, as fire-hollow, -hunt.

397 1831.  J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 295. Persons employed in *fire-gilding, and others who use mercury, are, it has been observed, compelled by the intolerable evil of sore mouths, &c. to take the necessary precautions against the effect of noxious fumes.

398 1864.  Tennyson, En. Ard., 564.        And Enoch’s comrade, careless of himself, *Fire-hollowing this in Indian fashion, fell Sun-stricken, and that other lived alone.

399 1852.  Haliburton, Traits Amer. Humor, III. 171. The *Fire-Hunt was Sam’s hobby, and though the legislature had recently passed an act prohibiting that mode of hunting, he continued to indulge, as freely as ever, in his favourite sport, resolutely maintaining that the law was ‘unconstitootional and agin reason.’

400 1814.  Sporting Mag., XLIV. 62. The method of approaching … the red deer … by means of *fire-hunting them.

401 1885.  T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, v. 158. Fire-hunting is never tried in the cattle country; it would be far more likely to result in the death of a steer or pony than in the death of a deer.

402 1872.  J. G. Murphy, Comm. Lev. i. 9. A *fire-offering; a firing or offering made by fire.

403 1849.  Pellatt, Curios. Glass Making, 31. By rewarming, technically called *fire polishing, the glass preserves its refractive brilliancy.

404 1621.  Burton, Anat. Mel., Democr. to Rdr. (1657), 63. In each town these several tradesmen shall be so aptly disposed, as they shall free the rest from danger or offence: *Fire-trades, as Smiths, Forge-men, Brewers, Bakers, Metal-men, &c.

405   4.  parasynthetic and similative, as fire-angry, -burning, -flowing, -like, -opalescent, -souled, -spirited, -swift adjs.

406 c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xxii. 476. I am well sure that Charlemagne shall wexe *fyre angry for it.

407 1562.  Cooper, Answ. Priv. Masse (Parker Soc.), 66. You lay the cause of private mass upon the key-cold charity of the people; (and perhaps the first occasion came thereof indeed;) but your scalding hot and *fireburning charity may be more justly charged with the continuance thereof.

408 1820.  Shelley, Vis. Sea, 18.        While the surf, like a chaos of stars, like a rout Of death-flames, like whirlpools of *fire-flowing iron.

409 1567.  J. Maplet, A Greene Forest, or a Naturall Historie, 56. The Peare tree as Isidore witnesseth, is called Pyrus, for that it is in his fashion and kinde of growth, Piramidall or *firelike.

410 1875.  Tennyson, Q. Mary, I. v.                    I’ll have it burnish’d firelike; I’ll set it round with gold, with pearl, with diamond.

411 1882.  F. W. H. Myers, Renewal of Youth, etc., 93.        O vaporous waves that roll and press! *Fire-opalescent wilderness!

412 1876.  Swinburne, Erechth. (ed. 2), 46.        Here, and upon it as a blast of death Blowing, the keen wrath of a *fire-souled king.

413 1839.  Bailey, Festus, xvii. (1848), 159.        In all things hidden, seen alone by eyes *Fire-spirited, etherially clear.

414 1876.  Swinburne, Erechth. (ed. 2), 16.        Or fourfold service of his *fire-swift wheels That whirl the four-yoked chariot.

415   II.  Special comb.

416   5.  fire-action, the action of firing, esp. skirmishing in line; fire-adjuster (see quot.); fire-alarm, an automatic arrangement by which notice of fire is given, also attrib.; † fire-amel, enamel produced by fire; fire-ant (see quots.); 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-barrel, a cylinder filled with combustibles, used in fire-ships; fire-bar, one of the iron bars of a grate or of a boiler furnace; 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 disease of hops; 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-bome (? bome = BOMB sb. 1), a beacon; fire-boom Naut. (see quot. 1867); fire-boss (U.S.) Mining (see quot.; cf. FIREMAN 5); fire-bottle, an early application of phosphorus for the purpose of fire-lighting; fire-break (U.S.), a cleared space round a homestead, a village, etc., to guard against prairie fires; 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; † 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-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-crook = FIRE-HOOK; fire-department, (a) the department in an insurance office that deals with insurances against fire; (b) U.S. a body of firemen; fire-dog = ANDIRON; † fire-dragon = FIRE-DRAKE; fire-drill, the name given by Tylor to a primitive contrivance, consisting of an obtuse-pointed stick that 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. sb.; 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-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 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; 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-lute, a composition or lute capable of resisting great heat; fire-maker, one who lights or makes fire or a fire; fire-marble, Min. = LUMACHEL; 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-colored 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-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-raft, a raft for setting an enemy’s shipping on fire; fire-roll (Naut.), a peculiar beat of the drum on an alarm of fire; fire-room, a room containing a fire-place; † 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 the action of 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-steel (see quot.); fire-stick, (a) a burning brand; (b) = fire-drill; fire-stink, Mining (see quot. 1881); fire-swab (Naut.), the wet bunch of rope-yarn used to cool a gun in action and swab up any grains of powder; 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-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-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-ward, -warden, U.S. the chief officer of a fire-brigade; † 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-worm, (a) = FIRE-FLY; (b) a glow-worm; fire-wreath = fire-hoop.

417 1875.  Clery, Min. Tact., ix. 100. *Fire-action was the actual means of victory, gained by the same troops that were formerly used for the shock, but who had instinctively assumed a formation best suited to the effective action of their weapon.

418 1882.  Sala, America Revisited, i. 268, note. A *‘Fire Adjuster’ is a gentleman employed by an Insurance Company, who is continually going to and fro one end of the United States to the other ‘adjusting’ claims for losses by fire.

419 1849.  Mech. Mag., LI. 425. A difficulty which has proved fatal to all our *fire alarms.

420 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 849/2. Fire-alarm Telegraph. The name applied to the system of telegraphy usually adopted in this country for giving notice of fires.

421 1423.  Jas. I, Kingis Q., xlviii. About hir nek, quhite as the *fyre amaille.

422 1796.  Stedman, Surinam, II. xx. 91. We had frequently been attacked by whole armies of small emmets, called here *fire-ants, from their painful biting.

423 1863.  Bates, Nat. Amazon, ix. (1864), 241. Fire-ants (formiga de fogo) under the floors.

424 1862.  Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., Birds, 613. The very handsome *Fireback is an Asiatic bird, inhabiting Sumatra.

425 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 862/1. Fire-back. The back-wall of a furnace or fireplace.

426 1822.  Imison, Elements of Science and Art, I. 170. *Fire-balloons, or those raised by heated air.

427 1847.  Tennyson, The Princess, Prol. 74.        A pretty railway ran: a fire-balloon Rose gem-like up before the dusky groves And dropt a fairy parachute and past.

428 1888.  J. Payn, Myst. Mirbridge, ix. Coming to the Court for compensation on account of damage done to his straw-yard by a fire-balloon which he (Ricard) had sent up on a Guy Fawkes’ day.

429 1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, *Firebank, a spoil-bank which takes fire spontaneously.

430 1693.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 12. Our English Iron, is generally a course sort of Iron, hard and brittle, fit for *Fire-bars, and other such course Uses.

431 1844.  Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., III. 312. The fuel is spread over a large surface of fire-bar [in a furnace].

432 1881.  F. Campin, Mech. Engineering, xii. 168. At a are fire-bars forming the grate.

433 1704.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4082/3. Throwing down *Fire-Barrels.

434 1883.  Manch. Guardian, 17 Oct., 5/2. A determined attempt was made by a *firebeater … to murder his wife.

435 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Fire-bill, the distribution of the officers and crew in the case of the alarm of fire.

436 1727.  Desaguliers, in Phil. Trans., XXXIV. 269. That *Fire-Blasts (as the Gardiners call them) may be occasion’d by Solar Rays reflected from, or condens’d by Clouds.

437 1824.  Forsyth, Fruit Trees, xxvii. 373. This is what is called a fire-blast, which in a few hours hath not only destoyed the fruit and leaves, but often parts of trees, and sometimes entire trees have been killed by it.

438 1750.  W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., IV. I. vi. 74. They [hops] are subject to the the black and green Lice, Fly, or Worm, the *Fire-blight, and the Mould or Dwindle.

439 1855.  H. Clarke, Dict., *Fireboard, chimneyboard.

440 1883.  Gresley, 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.

441 1885.  A. T. Slosson, How Faith Came and Went, in Harper’s Mag., April, 804/1. There was an open fire-place, but it was closed by a fire-board such as those in use at that time.

442 1826.  Mrs. Shelley, Last Man, II. ii. 51. *Fire-boats were launched from the various ports, while our troops sometimes recoiled from the devoted courage of men who did not seek to live, but to sell their lives dearly.

443 1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, etc. (Arb.), 137.        A clapping *fyerbolt (such as oft, with rownce robel hobble, Ioue toe the ground clattreth) but yeet not finnished holye.

444 1832.  Bryant, Hurricane, 37.        As the fire-bolts leap to the world below, And flood the skies with a lurid glow.

445 1839.  Bailey, Festus (1848), 16/2.                    Rivers may rot, Never revive the root of oak *firebolted.

446 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 29. Beekne or *fyrebome, far (pharus P.).

447 1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789). In which sense it [baute dehors] is usually called *fire-boom.

448 1867.  Smyth, 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.

449 1883.  Gresley, 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.

450 1823.  J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 122. A most useful application of phosphorus … is the art of making the *fire bottle, that affords immediate light.

451 1885.  Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 26 Sept., 4/1. Fears are entertained for the safety of the town, and teams are out plowing *fire-breaks around it.

452 1793.  Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, IV. 123. Let the whole of the cylinder, above this grate, be lined with *fire bricks, the joints well fitted, and laid in loam.

453 1865.  Daily Tel., 21 Oct., 5/1. The fire-brick footway.

454 1854.  Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 263. Mr. Williams’ patent consists essentially in admitting a current of air behind, or through the *fire-bridge, in several small jets or streams, so as readily to mix with the mass of heated hydrocarbons in their escape from the fuel on the grate bars.

455 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 862/2. Fire-bridge. A plate or wall at the back of the furnace to support the ends of the grate-bars and prevent the fuel being carried over.

456 a. 1643.  W. Cartwright, On the Great Frost, 51.        We laugh at *fire-briefs now, although they be Commended to us by his Majesty.

457 1838.  Penny 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.

458 1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 75.          Thee night his mantel dooth spred: with slumber is holden Eche liuing creature, then my holye domestical housgods, ln last nights *fyrebroyls, that from Troy skorched I saulued.

459 1872.  O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf.-t., i. (1885), 7. Political *firebugs we call ’em up our way. Want to substitoot the match-box for the ballot-box.

460 1883.  Pall Mall G., 6 Sept., 12/1. It is believed there exists an organized band of ‘firebugs.’

461 1644.  Digby, Two Treatises, I. xvii. 147. The Indian canes (which from thence are called *firecanes) being rubbed with some other sticke of the same nature; if they be first very dry, will of themselues sett on fire.

462 1670.  Lassels, Voy. Italy, I. Pref. Whiles these boyes might bring home Jewels, Pearls, and many other things of valew, they bring home nothing but firecanes, Parots, and Monkies.

463 1804.  A. Duncan, Mariner’s Chron., III. 101. The only article we now wanted was water. I recollected the *fire-cask in the mizen-chains.

464 1859.  Rankine, Steam Engine, § 303. In the External Furnace Boiler, the furnace or *fire-chamber is wholly outside of, and partly in contact with, the water vessel or boiler.

465 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 863/1. Fire-chamber. (Puddling.) The chamber at the end of the puddling-furnace, whence the flame passes to the reverberating chamber where the charge is placed.

466 1727–41.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Chemise, *Fire Chemise, is a piece of Linen Cloth, steep’d in a Composition of Oil, of Petreola, Camphor, and other combustible Matters; us’d at Sea, to set fire to the Enemy’s Vessel.

467 1865.  E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, ix. 253.        Panu, the poor son of Tuoni, Churning fiercely at the *fire-churn, Scattering fiery sparks around him.

468 1819.  Rees, Cycl., XIV. s.v., A very excellent *fire-clay, which is dug at Heaze-nether-end, Wheatcroft, Birkin Lane, and other places.

469 1869.  E. A. Parkes, A Manual of Practical Hygiene (ed. 3), 309. The radiating power of the small barrack grate is aided by a well-arranged angle, and by a fireclay back; as the fire is small, however, the radiating power is not great.

470 1634.  J. Bate, Myst. Nat. & Art, II. 92. The description and making of two sorts of *Fire-clubs.

471 1826.  Cushing, Newburyport, Pref. Some of these, such as the fire-clubs and engine societies [of the town], he found it necessary to omit entirely.

472 1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, Cockayne, Wks. (Bohn), II. 67. To wave our own flag at the dinner-table or in the University, is to carry the boisterous dulness of a fire-club into a polite circle.

473 1707.  Act 6 Anne, c. 58 § 1. To the Intent such Plugs or *Fire Cocks may always upon Occasion of any Fire be opened.

474 1844.  Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., III. 318. In enclosed premises, especially where the water is kept for the purpose of extinguishing fires, firecocks are much to be preferred [to plugs].

475 1804.  Naval Chron., XII. 331. There were four *Fire-coffers, filled with combustibles, which swim just above the surface of the water, and being nearly of the same colour, are hardly perceptible, particuarly of a dark night: each of these was filled with about forty barrels of powder.

476 1832.  Webster, *Fire-company, a company of men for managing an engine to extinguish fire.

477 a. 1668.  Davenant, Siege Rhodes (1673), 20.          Musta.  More Ladders, and reliefs to scale! The *Fire-crooks are too short! Help, help to hale!

478 1855.  H. Clarke, Dict., *Fire department, body of firemen.

479 1840.  Dickens, Barn. Rudge, x. None of your free-and-easy companions, who would scrape their boots upon the *fire-dogs in the common room, and be not at all particular on the subject of spittoons.

480 1556.  Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 3. Soch a stronge wynde in the north-est that it overturnyd houses, toweres, trees, and in the ayre was sene *fyere draggons and sprettes flyenge.

481 1865.  E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, ix. 228. The use of the *fire-drill, leaves no doubt that the Guanches knew how to produce and use fire at the time of the European expeditions in the 14th and 15th centuries. Ibid., 237. It comes much nearer than ‘fire-drilling’ to the yet simpler process of striking fire with two pieces of split bamboo.

482 1614.  Markham, 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.

483 a. 1684.  Leighton, Comm. 1 Peter iii. 16 (ed. Valpy), 388. Blunt that fire-edge upon your own hard and disordered hearts, that others may meet with nothing but charity and lenity at your hands.

484 1878.  Cumberld. Gloss., ‘He gallop’t his laal nag till t’ fire edge was off.’

485 1788.  Specif. Dufour’s Patent, No. 1652. 1. A Machine called a *Fire escape.

486 1832.  Examiner, 678/1. They … rush to the fire-escapes.

487 a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, *Fire-fanns, little Hand-Skreens for the Fire.

488 1706.  Collier, Refl. Ridic., 43. They praise the Cieling, the Alcove, the Bed, the Elbow-Chair, the Fire-Fan that is offer’d them, and the little barking Dog.

489 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 867/2. Fire-fan. A small blast apparatus adapted to a portable forge, or one—say a locksmith’s—which has small proportions.

490 1815.  Moore, Lalla R. (1817), 250.        ’Tis he, ’tis he—the man of blood, The fellest of the *Fire-fiend’s brood.

491 1595.  Chapman, Ovid’s Banquet of Sence, C j b.        And they are cripple-minded, gout-wit lamed, That lie like *fire-fit blocks, dead without wounds.

492 1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., V. vi.        The upper air burst into life,   And a hundred *fire-flags sheen To and fro they were hurried about; And to and fro, and in and out   The wan stars danced between.

493 1879.  Ann. Reg., 22. The red ensign reversed (fire-flag) was run up at half-past one in the afternoon, and it was after five o’clock before it was hauled down as a signal that the fire had been extinguished.

494 a. 1705.  Ray, Syn. Method. Piscium (1713), 24. Pastinaca marina … the *Fire-Flaire.

495 1861.  J. Couch, Fishes Brit. Isl. (1862), I. 74. Paulus Ægineta, a physician of Greece, speaking of cartilaginous fishes, says:—‘The Torpedo and Fireflair have soft and sweet flesh, which is easily digested.’

496 1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 30. Charges for *fire-flyers and Wheels, of four, five, and six Ounce Rockets.

497 1650.  Fuller, A Pisgah-sight of Palestine, II. v. 122. These caves (being only a cellar by nature) were by Art contrived into severall rooms, and by industry fortified even unto admiration. So well man’d, they could not be stormed, well victualled, they could not be starved, and (not having any combustible matter about them) fire-free they could not be burned, so thick, they could not be battered, so high, they could not be scaled, and so low, they could not be undermined.

498 1853.  Sir 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.

499 1852.  Burn, Nav. & Mil. Tech. Fr. Dict., II. 96. *Fire-guard.

500 1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 362. The *fire-hole, or furnace, enters the oven in a direction, diagonal with the farthest corner.

501 1835.  Sir J. Ross, Narr. 2nd Voy., Explan. Terms, p. xxviii. Fire hole, a hole in the ice, kept open in order to obtain water to extinguish fire.

502 1876.  C. H. Davis, Polaris Exp., ix. 217. The crew, during the two weeks of Hall’s illness, had been employed in their ordinary duties, such as cleaning decks, keeping the fire-hole open, procuring ice, and other like work.

503 1585.  Higgins, trans. Junius’ Nomenclator, 279 Malleoli … *fire hoopes.

504 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Fire-hoops.

505 1883.  Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters, in Century Mag., XXVII. Nov., 33/2. The pines go right up overhead; a little more, and the stream might have played, like a *fire-hose, on the Toll House roof.

506 1822.  Lond. Directory, 6. Norwich Union *fire-insurance Society.

507 1858.  Ld. St. Leonards, Handy-bk. Prop. Law, vii. 45. A word of advice about your Fire Insurance.

508 1818.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, VII. viii. 8.                  From the *fire isles came he, A diver lean and strong, of Oman’s coral sea.

509 1884.  Chr. World, 28 Aug., 641/3. The burning gunboats and *fire-junks.

510 1829.  Carlyle, Misc. (1857), II. 101. Men have crossed oceans by steam; the Birmingham *Fire-king has visited the fabulous East; and the genius of the Cape, were there any Camoens now to sing it, has again been alarmed, and with far stranger thunders than Gama’s.

511 1861.  The Leisure Hour, X. 17 Oct., 661/1–2. The dwellings were generally of wood pitched on the outside; the roofs were thatched; the streets were narrow, the upper stories of the houses on opposite sides projected so as nearly to touch each other; the woodwork was dry and combustible, owing to the heat and drought of the preceding month; and at the same time the wind blew furiously from the east. Thus aided, the fire-king marched victoriously from east to west, and took possession of more than four hundred acres of ground.

512 1876.  Chamb. Jrnl., 11 Nov., 733/1. After dinner, the fire-king devoured flaming brimstone by way of dessert; chewed and swallowed burning coals; melted a beer-glass and then ate it up, or drank it down; put a live-coal on his tongue, placed an oyster on the coal, blew this strange substitute for a fire-place with bellows, and so continued until the oyster was roasted or scalloped.

513 1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, *Fire-lamp.

514 1779.  Hist. Europe, in Ann. Reg. (1780), 127/1. Will the deputy, the clerks, or even the *fire-lighter come to prove it?

515 1758.  The Elaboratory laid open, Introduction, 51. The following composition, which, for the sake of brevity, I call the *fire-lute, where I have occasion to mention it, will, however, extremely well answer this end.

516 1710.  Palmer, Proverbs, 61. Even from the *Fire-makers and Necessary-Women, to the Groom of the Stole and Grand Vizier.

517 1865.  E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, ix. 228. There are a number of stories, old and new, of tribes of mankind living in ignorance of the art of fire-making. Such a state of things is indeed usually presupposed by the widespread legends of first fire-makers or fire-bringers.

518 1816.  W. Phillips, Min. (1818), 97. It has obtained the name of *Fire marble.

519 a. 1661.  Holyday, Juvenal, 253.        What learns his Son, who does harsh chains, slaves dire *Fire-marks, and Country-jails with joy admire?

520 1690.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2571/4. Lost … a brown Gelding … a Flower-de-luce Fire mark on the near Hip.

521 1833.  N. Arnott, Physics, II. 115. The apparatus has been called Wedgewood’s Pyrometer, or *fire-measure.

522 1721.  in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 74. All gratuities whatsoever such as entrance money, cockpenny, *fire money, and quarteridge.

523 1653.  Noctes Hibernæ, i. 3. Some have learned more of their Teacher … on a *fire-night, than sitting at the desk all the day.

524 1816.  R. Jameson, Char. Min., I. 238. Third Sub-species, *Fire Opal.

525 1738.  [G. Smith], Curious Relations, II. 358. Twenty-seven Foresters, with *Fire-Pieces in their Arms.

526 1775.  J. Wright, Let., in Athenæum, 10 July (1886), 56/3. I am confident I have some enemies in this place who propagate a report that I paint fire-pieces admirably, but they never heard of my painting portraits.

527 1664.  H. More, Myst. Iniq., xv. 167. What shall we say to the Multitudes of those that are thus Martyred, I mean not only in Succession, but at a Clap, by Thirties, Fourscores, and Hundreds at a time, either at one Common *Fire-pyle, or else in Barns and Dwelling-Houses; severe Officers with their Iron Weapons forcing them back as often as the Heat and Smoak would drive them out to seek cooler Air?

528 1863.  Lytton, Caxtoniana, in Blackw. Mag., XCIV. Sept., 292/1. The one is Hercules assoiled from mortal stain when separated from mortal labour, who has ascended from the fire-pile to the Nectar Hall of Olympus.

529 1713.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5116/11. Scarcity of Water, occasion’d by the want of *Fire-Plugs in the Street.

530 1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, xx. The pony looked with great attention into a fire-plug which was near him, and appeared to be quite absorbed in contemplating it.

531 1855.  Ogilvie, Suppl., *Fire-policy. A transaction effected at an insurance-office, whereby, in consideration of a single or periodical payment of premium, the company engages to pay to the assured person such loss as may occur by fire to his property.

532 1558.  Inv. R. Hyndmer, in Wills & Inv. (Surtees), 162. A *fyer porre, a payre of tonges [etc.].

533 1855.  Whitby Gloss., Fire-porr.

534 1568.  Inventory W. Strickland, in Richmond Wills & Inv. (Surtees), 222. A pair tonngs, a *fyer pronge, iij s. iiij d.

535 1776.  T. Jefferson, Lett., Writ. 1893, II. 83. One of the two fire-rafts prepared for that purpose grappled the Phenix ten minutes, but was cleared away at last.

536 1844.  H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, III. 52. Parties were also sent in the men-of-war’s boats up the river, to reconnoitre any defences the Burmas might have constructed, and destroy any armed boats or fire-rafts they might meet with.

537 1830.  Marryat, King’s Own, lii. He desired the *‘fire-roll’ to be beat by the drummer, and sent down to ascertain the extent of the mischief.

538 1805.  Forsyth, Beauties Scotl. (1806), III. 123. The late duke in his lifetime built one wing of a new castle of very strong and elegant work, in which there are between fifty and sixty *fire-rooms.

539 1650.  Fuller, A Pisgah-sight of Palestine, II. xii. 246. Partly because the water hereof was salt with a witness, *fire-salt, as I may say.

540 1611.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. III. Schisme, 628.        Follows as far as well hee could with eye The *fire-snort Palfreys, through the sparkling Sky.

541 1794.  Sullivan, View Nat., II. 184. Three *fire-spouts broke out. After rising to a considerable height in the air, they were collected into one stream.

542 1811.  W. J. Hooker, Iceland (1813), II. 128. Several fire-spouts were distinctly seen, for the first time, rising from among the mountains towards the north.

543 1848.  C. Brontë, J. Eyre (1857), 267. I have seen what a *fire-sprit you can be when you are indignant.

544 1676.  C. Hatton, in Hatton Corr. (1878), 141. He imagining I wase one of my Ld Craven’s *fire-spyes.

545 1585.  Higgins, trans. Junius’ Nomenclator, 243–4. Igniarium.… A *firesteele wherewith to strike fire out of a flint.

546 c. 1300.  Havelok, 966. Was it nouth worth a *fir sticke.

547 1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xi. 158. At a worde, thou playest the babe, who thinkes his Nurce does him wrong when she kembes his head or puts on his cloathes, or rather when sometymes she plucks a firesticke from him, or takes a knife out of his hand: that is to say, thou misconstrewest al the good which the bountifull prouidence of God doth vnto thee.

548 1794–6.  E. Darwin, Zoon. (1801), I. 30. If a fire-stick be whirled round in the dark, a luminous circle appears to the observer.

549 1833.  Sturt, Exped. S. Australia, I. iii. 105. Several carried fire-sticks.

550 1865.  E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, 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.

551 1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., *Fire-stink. The stench from decomposing iron pyrites, caused by the formation of sulphuretted hydrogen.

552 1855.  Ogilvie, Suppl., *Fire-swab. In ships, a bunch of rope-yarn, secured to the tompion, and immersed in water, to wet the gun, and clear away any particles of powder, &c.

553 a. 1000.  Crist, 984 (Gr.). Færerð æfter foldan    *fyrswearta leȝ.

554 a. 1849.  W. Taylor, in Southey, Comm.-pl. Bk., IV. 93.        Taylor, if through thy shatter’d fire-swart hall   Unbowed thou wanderest, and with tearless eye, ’Tis not that thou hast seen unmoved its fall,   But that thou feel’st it were a crime to sigh.

555 1863.  Tyndall, Heat, i. 13. The *fire syringe.

556 1827.  Westm. Rev., VII. 279. The very *fire-teazer who holds the soul of the steam-boat and the lives of all the passengers in his hands, is a man of head; he must be educated; and so he is.

557 1843.  Mill, Logic, I. I. iv. § 1. 105. The fire-teazer of a modern steam-engine produces by his exertions far greater effects than Milo of Crotona could, but he is not therefore a stronger man.

558 1854.  Romalds & 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.

559 1827.  G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, Preface, p. xlvi. They have of late obtained the names in general of *fire towers.

560 1887.  Spectator, LX. 28 May, 722/2. No especial blame is yet attached to any one, and the panic was less severe than is usual in such scenes; but the building appears to have been a regular *fire-trap.

561 1801.  Strutt, Sports & Past., IV. iii. 332. These exhibitions were very clumsily contrived, consisting chiefly in wheels, *fire-trees, jerbs, and rockets.

562 1639.  J. 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.].

563 1687.  J. Richards, Jrnl. Siege Buda, 26. Stones, Granadoes, Arrows, Bullets, and Fire-Trunks.

564 1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Sausisson, the trough, of fausage, filled with powder, which communicates the flame from the train to the fire-trunks or powder-barrels in a fire-ship.

565 1830.  Falconer’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.

566 1855.  H. Clarke, Dict., *Fire-tube, pipeflue.

567 1382.  Wyclif, Ex. xxvii. 3. Toonges, and hokes, and *fyer vessels.

568 1827.  Examiner, 723/2. The Dartmouth sending a boat to one of the fire-vessels.

569 1763.  J. Adams, Diary, Feb. Wks. 1850, II. 144. Collectors, wardens, *fire-wards, and representatives, are regularly chosen.

570 1832.  Webster, Fire-ward, Firewarden.

571 1663.  Mrq. Worcester, Cent. Inv., Index. A *Fire Water-work 68.

572 1879.  Geikie, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), X. 250/1. Emanations of carburetted hydrogen, which, when they take fire, are known as *Fire-wells.

573 1634.  J. Bate, Myst. Nat. & Art, II. 77. How to make Gironells or *fire wheeles.

574 1799.  G. 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.

575 1567.  J. Maplet, A Greene Forest, or a Naturall Historie, 111. Another which is called the *fier Worme, & semeth as it were to be a kinde of Spider.

576 1821.  Byron, Cain, II. i.        Why, I have seen the fire-flies and fire-worms Sprinkle the dusky groves and the green banks In the dim twilight, brighter than yon world Which bears them.

577 1639.  J. C[ruso], Art of Warre, 93. Fire-balls, granadoes, *fire-wreathes, and fire-trunks.

578 1862.  H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II. 346, note. Fireworks were thrown by hand from the yard-arms of the ships—fire-arrows shot from the bows, as well as fire-wreaths cast into the vessels of the enemy.

579   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.

580 1882.  The Garden, XXI. 13 May, 322/2. The *Fire Bush (Embothrium coccineum) … which thrives so well in the genial climate of Devonshire.

581 1860.  Gard. Chron., 11 Aug., 738/1. *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).

582 1882.  The Garden, XXI. 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, and on this account are extremely showy.

583 1792.  J. Belknap, Hist. New-Hampshire, III. 133. No other culture being necessary or practicable, but the cutting of the *fireweed, which spontaneously grows on all burnt land.

584 1829.  Loudon, Encycl. Plants, 706. Senecio hieracifolius is the pest of newly cleared ground in North America, as S. vulgaris is in Europe. It is known by the name of the Fire-weed.

585 1857.  Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 350. There were great fields of fire-weed (Epilobium angustifolium) on all sides, the most extensive that I ever saw, which presented great masses of pink.

586 1861.  Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., II. 104. In Virginia, the Thorn-Apple is called Fireweed, because it rises on spots where the fire has levelled the forest trees.

587 1866.  Treas. Bot., Fireweed. An American name for Erechtites hieracifolia.

588 1892.  R. Kipling, in Times (weekly ed.), 24 Nov., 13/3. The fire-weed glows in the centre of the driveways, mocking the arrogant advertisements in the empty shops.

589   c.  In provincial or local names of birds and insects, as fire-crest, the golden-crested wren (Regulus ignicapillus); also fire-crested wren; 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).

590 1885.  Swainson, Prov. Names Brit. Birds, 229. *Fire crest. Ibid., 13. Redstart … *Fire flirt.

591 1855.  Lowell, Lett. to Stillman, 21 May (1894), I. 232. The linnets, catbirds, *fire hang-birds, and robins are all singing hymeneals to the Spring, and she trembles through all her wreaths of new-born leaves and seems equally pleased with each of them.

592 1802.  G. Montagu, Ornith. Dict. (1833), 412. *Fire-tail … the Redstart.

593 1865.  Gould, Hdbk. Birds Australia, I. 406. Zonæginthus bellus, Fire-tailed Finch … Fire-tail.

594 1867.  F. P. Verney, Stone Edge, in Cornh. Mag., XV. 593. ‘There’s a firetail,’ said the boy, interrupting the recital of his wrongs to throw a stone at a redstart.

595 1868.  Wood, Homes without H., xxv. 481. Those splendid insects which are popularly called Ruby-tailed Flies or Firetails, and scientifically are termed Chrysididæ, are also to be numbered among the parasitic insects.

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