afire

English

Etymology

13^thc., from a- (“on”) +‎ fire. Figurative usage from late 14^thc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfaɪɚ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Adverb

afire (comparative more afire, superlative most afire)

1. On fire (often metaphorically).

Adjective

afire (comparative more afire, superlative most afire)

1. On fire (often metaphorically).

Quotations

• 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 3:

  Ariell: […] all but Mariners / Plung'd in the foaming bryne, and quit the veſſell ; / Then all a fire with me the Kings ſonne Ferdinand / With haire vp-ſtaring (then like reeds, not haire) / Was the firſt man that leapt ; cride hell is empty, / And all the Diuels are heere.

• 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, New York: C.S. Francis & Co., 1857, Seventh Book, p. 275^[1]:

  […] Earth’s crammed with heaven, / And every common bush afire with God:

• 1922, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars‎^[2], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2010:

  … if I were a young man I should doubtless be willing to set all Barsoom afire to win you, …

• 1931, Nacio Herb Brown and Gordon Clifford, “Paradise” (song first sung by Pola Negri and later covered by Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra):

  Her eyes afire / With one desire. / Then a heavenly kiss: / Could I resist?

• 1950, Mervyn Peake, chapter 63, in Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode:

  Old claw-like hands, cracked with long years of thankless toil, would hold aloft a delicate bird of wood, its wings, as thin as paper, spread for flight, its breast afire with a crimson stain.

Synonyms

• ablaze
• aflame

Derived terms

• like a house afire
• set afire
• set the world afire

 

Translations

literally on fire

• Bulgarian: пламнал (bg) (plamnal), запален (bg) (zapalen)
• Dutch: in brand
• Finnish: tulessa (fi), liekeissä
• French: ardent (fr)
• Georgian: ცეცხლწაკიდებული (cecxlc̣aḳidebuli), ალმოდებული (almodebuli)
• German: in Flammen (de), in Brand (de)
• Spanish: ardiendo (es)

metaphorically on fire

• Finnish: tulessa (fi)
• French: ardent (fr)
• German: Feuer und Flamme sein (de), begeistert (de) sein

Anagrams

• Arfie, Feria, Freia, faire, feria, rafie

Galician

Verb

afire

1. inflection of aferir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative