fire

See also: FIRE and fíre

EnglishEdit

 
A large fire (1)
 
A small fire from a lighter (1)
 
The fire of a stationary minigun (7)

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English fier, from Old English fȳr (“fire”), from Proto-West Germanic *fuir, from *fuïr, a regularised form of Proto-Germanic *fōr (“fire”) (compare Saterland Frisian Fjuur, West Frisian fjoer, Dutch vuur, Low German Füer, German Feuer, Danish fyr), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥.

Compare Hittite 𒉺𒄴𒄯 (paḫḫur), Umbrian pir, Tocharian A/B por/puwar, Czech pýř (“hot ashes”), Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr, “fire”), and Armenian հուր (hur, “fire”)). This was an inanimate noun whose animate counterpart was Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥gʷnis (see ignite). Cognate to pyre.

Alternative formsEdit

NounEdit

fire (countable and uncountable, plural fires)

  2. (uncountable) A (usually self-sustaining) chemical reaction involving the bonding of oxygen with carbon or other fuel, with the production of heat and the presence of flame or smouldering.
  3. (countable) An instance of this chemical reaction, especially when intentionally created and maintained in a specific location to a useful end (such as a campfire or a hearth fire).
    We sat about the fire singing songs and telling tales.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.
  4. (countable) The occurrence, often accidental, of fire in a certain place, causing damage and danger.
    There was a fire at the school last night and the whole place burned down.
    During hot and dry summers many fires in forests are caused by regardlessly discarded cigarette butts.
    • 2020 January 1, Bernard Lagan, “Thousands flee to beaches as the flames close in”, in The Times, number 73,044, page 24:
      Efforts to fight the fires in New South Wales and Victoria were hampered as large fires converged and created their own violent weather systems. The fire created dry lightning storms so severe that planes had to be grounded.
  5. (uncountable, alchemy, philosophy) The aforementioned chemical reaction of burning, considered one of the Classical elements or basic elements of alchemy.
  6. (countable, Britain) A heater or stove used in place of a real fire (such as an electric fire).
  7. (countable) The elements necessary to start a fire.
    The fire was laid and needed to be lit.
  8. (uncountable) The bullets or other projectiles fired from a gun.
    The fire from the enemy guns kept us from attacking.
  9. Strength of passion, whether love or hate.
    • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to some Considerations, the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation
      He had fire in his temper.
  10. Liveliness of imagination or fancy; intellectual and moral enthusiasm.
  11. Splendour; brilliancy; lustre; hence, a star.
  12. A severe trial; anything inflaming or provoking.
  13. Red coloration in a piece of opal.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
  • → Japanese: ファイヤー (faiyā)
  • Sranan Tongo: faya
TranslationsEdit

See fire/translations § Noun.

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English firen, fyren, furen, from Old English fȳrian (“to make a fire”), from the noun (see above). Cognate with Old Frisian fioria (“to light a fire”), Saterland Frisian fjuurje (“to fire”), Middle Dutch vûren, vueren, vieren (“to set fire”), Dutch vuren (“to fire, shoot”), Old High German fiuren (“to ignite, set on fire”), German feuern (“to fire”).

VerbEdit

fire (third-person singular simple present fires, present participle firing, simple past and past participle fired)

  1. (transitive) To set (something, often a building) on fire.
    • 1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “At the House in Great Portland Street”, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, OCLC 904345282, page 186:
      ["]Then I slipped up again with a box of matches, fired my heap of paper and rubbish, put the chairs and bedding thereby, led the gas to the affair, by means of an india-rubber tube, and waving a farewell to the room left it for the last time."
      "You fired the house!" exclaimed Kemp.
      "Fired the house. It was the only way to cover my trail – and no doubt it was insured.["]
    • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎[1]:
      That lamp was the mummy of a woman tied to a stout stake let into the rock, and he had fired her hair.
    • 1907, Jack London, The Iron Heel
      It was long a question of debate, whether the burning of the South Side ghetto was accidental, or whether it was done by the Mercenaries; but it is definitely settled now that the ghetto was fired by the Mercenaries under orders from their chiefs.
  2. (transitive) To heat as with fire, but without setting on fire, as ceramic, metal objects, etc.
    If you fire the pottery at too high a temperature, it may crack.
    They fire the wood to make it easier to put a point on the end.
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 731476803:
      So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
  3. (transitive) To drive away by setting a fire.
  4. (transitive) To terminate the employment contract of (an employee), especially for cause (such as misconduct or poor performance).
    Antonym: hire
    • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p.226:
      The first, obvious choice was hysterical and fantastic Blanche – had there not been her timidity, her fear of being ‘fired’ […].
  5. (transitive) To shoot (a gun or analogous device).
    We will fire our guns at the enemy.
    He fired his radar gun at passing cars.
  6. (transitive, mining) To set off an explosive in a mine.
    • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎[2]:
      `Now are you both ready?' I said, as people do when they are going to fire a mine.
  7. (intransitive) To shoot a gun, cannon, or similar weapon.
    Synonyms: open fire, shoot
    Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
  8. (transitive, sports) To shoot; to attempt to score a goal.
  9. (intransitive, physiology) To cause an action potential in a cell.
    When a neuron fires, it transmits information.
  10. (transitive) To forcibly direct (something).
    He answered the questions the reporters fired at him.
  11. (transitive, intransitive, computer sciences, software engineering) To initiate an event (by means of an event handler).
    The event handler should only fire after all web page content has finished loading.
    The queue fires a job whenever the thread pool is ready to handle it.
  12. To inflame; to irritate, as the passions.
    to fire the soul with anger, pride, or revenge
  13. To animate; to give life or spirit to.
    to fire the genius of a young man
  14. To feed or serve the fire of.
    to fire a boiler
    • 1961 March, "Balmore", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 150, 151:
      We left with the "Blue Train", dead on time. This time I fired all the way. […] The next day took me home again on No. E.16 with Henri Dutertre. I fired from Paris to Calais.
  15. (transitive) To light up as if by fire; to illuminate.
  16. (transitive, farriery) To cauterize.
  17. (intransitive, dated) To catch fire; to be kindled.
  18. (intransitive, dated) To be irritated or inflamed with passion.
    • 1864, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas:
      Inexperienced girl as I was, I fired at the idea of becoming his dupe, and fancying, perhaps, that there was more in merely answering his note than it would have amounted to, I said — "That kind of thing may answer very well with button-makers, but ladies don't like it. […]
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to set on fire — see set on fire
farriery: to cauterize — see cauterize
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 3Edit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Alternative formsEdit

  • fye (nonstandard, Internet slang)

AdjectiveEdit

fire (not comparable)

  1. (slang) Amazing; excellent.
    That shit is fire, yo!
TranslationsEdit

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

AsturianEdit

VerbEdit

fire

  1. third-person singular present indicative of firir

Crimean TatarEdit

NounEdit

fire

  1. shrinkage, loss
  2. scrap

DanishEdit

Danish cardinal numbers
 <  3 4 5  > 
    Cardinal : fire
    Ordinal : fjerde

Etymology 1Edit

From Old Norse fjórir, from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”).

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /fiːrə/, [ˈfiːɐ]

NumeralEdit

fire

  1. four
Usage notesEdit

In compounds: fir-.

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle Low German fīren, from French virer (“bear, veer”).

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /fiːrə/, [ˈfiːɐ]

VerbEdit

fire (imperative fir, infinitive at fire, present tense firer, past tense firede, perfect tense har firet)

  1. to lower something fixed to a rope or something similar
    • 1871, Jens Andreas Friis, Lappisk Mythologi, page 138
      Saa gik han hen og firede Stenen og Vidietouget ned i Hullet.
      Then he went [to the hole] and lowered the rock and the wicker rope down into the hole.
    • 2014, Teddy Vork, Diget, Tellerup A/S →ISBN
      Han satte sig på knæ, famlede sig frem til tovet og vendte sig rundt så han havde ryggen til hullet, drejede overkroppen bagud, firede faklen ned i hullet.
      He kneeled, fumbled his way to the rope and turned around, such that his back was to the hole, twisted his torso backwards, lowered the torch into the hole.
ConjugationEdit
Inflection of fire
present past
simple firer firede
perfect har firet havde firet
passive fires firedes
participle - firet
imperative fir —
infinitive fire —
auxiliary verb have —
gerund — —

ItalianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin fierī (“to become, be”), present active infinitive of fiō. Compare Romanian fi.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈfi.re/, [ˈfiːr̺e]
  • Hyphenation: fì‧re

VerbEdit

fire

  1. (northern Italy, obsolete) to be
    Synonym: essere

Usage notesEdit

  • The only forms attested outside of ancient Northern Italian literature are the future fia (third-person singular) and fiano (third-person plural).

ReferencesEdit

  • fire in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Norwegian BokmålEdit

Norwegian cardinal numbers
 <  3 4 5  > 
    Cardinal : fire
    Ordinal : fjerde

Etymology 1Edit

From Danish fire, Old Norse fjórir, from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr, from *kʷetwṓr, the neuter form of Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres.

PronunciationEdit

NumeralEdit

fire

  1. four
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from fire (numeral)
Related termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From French virer, via Middle Low German firen

VerbEdit

fire (imperative fir, present tense firer, passive fires, simple past fira or firet or firte, past participle fira or firet or firt, present participle firende)

  1. to slacken, ease
  2. to lower (a flag)

ReferencesEdit

Norwegian NynorskEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old Norse fjórir, via Danish fire.

NumeralEdit

fire

  1. four
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From French virer, via Middle Low German firen.

VerbEdit

fire

  1. to slacken, ease
  2. to lower (e.g. a flag)

ReferencesEdit

RomanianEdit

Etymology 1Edit

NounEdit

fire n

  1. plural of fir

Etymology 2Edit

From fi +‎ -re.

NounEdit

fire f (plural firi)

  1. essence, substance, nature
    Synonym: natură
  2. character, temper, disposition
    Synonyms: caracter, temperament
  3. mind
    Synonym: minte
DeclensionEdit
Declension of fire
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (o) fire firea (niște) firi firile
genitive/dative (unei) firi firii (unor) firi firilor
vocative fire, fireo firilor
Related termsEdit

TurkishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Greek Φύρα (Fýra)

NounEdit

fire (definite accusative fireyi, plural fireler)

  1. wastage
  2. outage
  3. shrinkage, loss, loss in weight, decrease
  4. turnover
  5. ullage
  6. leakage
  7. waste, tret, deficiency

DeclensionEdit

Inflection
Nominative fire
Definite accusative fireyi
Singular Plural
Nominative fire fireler
Definite accusative fireyi fireleri
Dative fireye firelere
Locative firede firelerde
Ablative fireden firelerden
Genitive firenin firelerin
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