Fire n. 1.The evolution of light and heat in the combustion of bodies; combustion; state of ignition. Note: The form of fire exhibited in the combustion of gases in an ascending stream or current is called flame. Anciently, fire, air, earth, and water were regarded as the four elements of which all things are composed.
2.Fuel in a state of combustion, as on a hearth, or in a stove or a furnace.
3.The burning of a house or town; a conflagration.
4.Anything which destroys or affects like fire.
5.Ardor of passion, whether love or hate; excessive warmth; consuming violence of temper. "he had fire in his temper."
6.Liveliness of imagination or fancy; intellectual and moral enthusiasm; capacity for ardor and zeal. "And bless their critic with a poet's fire."
7.Splendor; brilliancy; luster; hence, a star. "Stars, hide your fires." "As in a zodiac representing the heavenly fires."
8.Torture by burning; severe trial or affliction.
9.The discharge of firearms; firing; as, the troops were exposed to a heavy fire.
Blue fire, Red fire, Green fire (Pyrotech.), compositions of various combustible substances, as sulphur, niter, lampblack, etc., the flames of which are colored by various metallic salts, as those of antimony, strontium, barium, etc.
Fire alarm (a)A signal given on the breaking out of a fire.
(b)An apparatus for giving such an alarm.
Fire annihilator, a machine, device, or preparation to be kept at hand for extinguishing fire by smothering it with some incombustible vapor or gas, as carbonic acid.
Fire balloon. (a)A balloon raised in the air by the buoyancy of air heated by a fire placed in the lower part.
(b)A balloon sent up at night with fireworks which ignite at a regulated height.
Fire bar, a grate bar.
Fire basket, a portable grate; a cresset.
Fire beetle. (Zool.) See in the Vocabulary.
Fire blast, a disease of plants which causes them to appear as if burnt by fire.
Fire box, the chamber of a furnace, steam boiler, etc., for the fire.
Fire brick, a refractory brick, capable of sustaining intense heat without fusion, usually made of fire clay or of siliceous material, with some cementing substance, and used for lining fire boxes, etc.
Fire brigade, an organized body of men for extinguished fires.
Fire bucket. See under Bucket. Fire bug, an incendiary; one who, from malice or through mania, persistently sets fire to property; a pyromaniac. (U.S.)
Fire clay. See under Clay. Fire company, a company of men managing an engine in extinguishing fires.
Fire cross. See Fiery cross. (Obs.) Fire damp. See under Damp. Fire dog. See Firedog, in the Vocabulary. Fire drill. (a)A series of evolutions performed by fireman for practice.
(b)An apparatus for producing fire by friction, by rapidly twirling a wooden pin in a wooden socket; used by the Hindoos during all historic time, and by many savage peoples.
Fire eater. (a)A juggler who pretends to eat fire.
(b)A quarrelsome person who seeks affrays; a hotspur. (Colloq.)
Fire engine, a portable forcing pump, usually on wheels, for throwing water to extinguish fire.
Fire escape, a contrivance for facilitating escape from burning buildings.
Fire gilding (Fine Arts), a mode of gilding with an amalgam of gold and quicksilver, the latter metal being driven off afterward by heat.
Fire gilt (Fine Arts), gold laid on by the process of fire gilding.
Fire insurance, the act or system of insuring against fire; also, a contract by which an insurance company undertakes, in consideration of the payment of a premium or small percentage usually made periodically to indemnify an owner of property from loss by fire during a specified period.
Fire irons, utensils for a fireplace or grate, as tongs, poker, and shovel.
Fire main, a pipe for water, to be used in putting out fire.
Fire master (Mil), an artillery officer who formerly supervised the composition of fireworks.
Fire office, an office at which to effect insurance against fire.
Fire opal, a variety of opal giving firelike reflections.
Fire ordeal, an ancient mode of trial, in which the test was the ability of the accused to handle or tread upon red-hot irons.
Fire pan, a pan for holding or conveying fire, especially the receptacle for the priming of a gun.
Fire plug, a plug or hydrant for drawing water from the main pipes in a street, building, etc., for extinguishing fires.
Fire policy, the writing or instrument expressing the contract of insurance against loss by fire.
Fire pot. (a)(Mil.) A small earthen pot filled with combustibles, formerly used as a missile in war.
(b)The cast iron vessel which holds the fuel or fire in a furnace.
Fire raft, a raft laden with combustibles, used for setting fire to an enemy's ships.
Fire roll, a peculiar beat of the drum to summon men to their quarters in case of fire.
Fire setting (Mining), the process of softening or cracking the working face of a lode, to facilitate excavation, by exposing it to the action of fire; now generally superseded by the use of explosives.
Fire ship, a vessel filled with combustibles, for setting fire to an enemy's ships.
Fire shovel, a shovel for taking up coals of fire.
Fire stink, the stench from decomposing iron pyrites, caused by the formation of hydrogen sulfide.
Fire surface, the surfaces of a steam boiler which are exposed to the direct heat of the fuel and the products of combustion; heating surface.
Fire swab, a swab saturated with water, for cooling a gun in action and clearing away particles of powder, etc.
Fire teaser, in England, the fireman of a steam emgine.
Fire water, a strong alcoholic beverage; so called by the American Indians.
Fire worship, the worship of fire, which prevails chiefly in Persia, among the followers of Zoroaster, called Chebers, or Guebers, and among the Parsees of India.
Greek fire. See under Greek. On fire, burning; hence, ardent; passionate; eager; zealous.
Running fire, the rapid discharge of firearms in succession by a line of troops.
St. Anthony's fire, erysipelas; an eruptive fever which St. Anthony was supposed to cure miraculously.
St. Elmo's fire. See under Saint Elmo.
To set on fire, to inflame; to kindle.
To take fire, to begin to burn; to fly into a passion.
Red adj. (compar. redder; superl. reddest) Of the color of blood, or of a tint resembling that color; of the hue of that part of the rainbow, or of the solar spectrum, which is furthest from the violet part. "Fresh flowers, white and reede." "Your color, I warrant you, is as red as any rose." Note: Red is a general term, including many different shades or hues, as scarlet, crimson, vermilion, orange red, and the like. Note: Red is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, red-breasted, red-cheeked, red-faced, red-haired, red-headed, red-skinned, red-tailed, red-topped, red-whiskered, red-coasted. Red admiral (Zool.), a beautiful butterfly (Vanessa Atalanta) common in both Europe and America. The front wings are crossed by a broad orange red band. The larva feeds on nettles. Called also Atalanta butterfly, and nettle butterfly.
Red ant. (Zool.) (a)A very small ant (Myrmica molesta) which often infests houses.
(b)A larger reddish ant (Formica sanguinea), native of Europe and America. It is one of the slave-making species.
Red antimony (Min.), kermesite. See Kermes mineral (b), under Kermes. Red ash (Bot.), an American tree (Fraxinus pubescens), smaller than the white ash, and less valuable for timber.
Red bass. (Zool.) See Redfish (d). Red bay (Bot.), a tree (Persea Caroliniensis) having the heartwood red, found in swamps in the Southern United States.
Red beard (Zool.), a bright red sponge (Microciona prolifera), common on oyster shells and stones. (Local, U.S.)
Red birch (Bot.), a species of birch (Betula nigra) having reddish brown bark, and compact, light-colored wood.
Red blindness. (Med.) See Daltonism. Red book, a book containing the names of all the persons in the service of the state. (Eng.)
Red book of the Exchequer, an ancient record in which are registered the names of all that held lands per baroniam in the time of Henry II.
Red brass, an alloy containing eight parts of copper and three of zinc.
Red bug. (Zool.) (a)A very small mite which in Florida attacks man, and produces great irritation by its bites.
(b)A red hemipterous insect of the genus Pyrrhocoris, especially the European species (Pyrrhocoris apterus), which is bright scarlet and lives in clusters on tree trunks.
(c)See Cotton stainder, under Cotton. Red cedar (Bot.) (a)An evergreen North American tree (Juniperus Virginiana) having a fragrant red-colored heartwood.
(b)A tree of India and Australia (Cedrela Toona) having fragrant reddish wood; called also toon tree in India.
Red chalk. See under Chalk. Red copper (Min.), red oxide of copper; cuprite.
Red coral (Zool.), the precious coral (Corallium rubrum).
Red cross (a)The cross of St. George, the national emblem of the English.
(b)The Geneva cross. See Geneva convention, and Geneva cross, under Geneva. Red currant. (Bot.) See Currant. Red deer. (Zool.) (a)The common stag (Cervus elaphus), native of the forests of the temperate parts of Europe and Asia. It is very similar to the American elk, or wapiti.
(b)The Virginia deer. See Deer. Red duck (Zool.), a European reddish brown duck (Fuligula nyroca); called also ferruginous duck.
Red ebony. (Bot.) See Grenadillo. Red empress (Zool.), a butterfly. See Tortoise shell. Red fir (Bot.), a coniferous tree (Pseudotsuga Douglasii) found from British Columbia to Texas, and highly valued for its durable timber. The name is sometimes given to other coniferous trees, as the Norway spruce and the American Abies magnifica and Abies nobilis.
Red fire. (Pyrotech.) See Blue fire, under Fire. Red flag. See under Flag. Red fox (Zool.), the common American fox (Vulpes fulvus), which is usually reddish in color.
Red grouse (Zool.), the Scotch grouse, or ptarmigan. See under Ptarmigan. Red gum, or Red gum-tree (Bot.), a name given to eight Australian species of Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus amygdalina, resinifera, etc.) which yield a reddish gum resin. See Eucalyptus. Red hand (Her.), a left hand appaumé, fingers erect, borne on an escutcheon, being the mark of a baronet of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; called also Badge of Ulster.
Red herring, the common herring dried and smoked.
Red horse. (Zool.) (a)Any large American red fresh-water sucker, especially Moxostoma macrolepidotum and allied species.
Red lead, (Chem) See under Lead, and Minium. Red-lead ore. (Min.) Same as Crocoite. Red liquor (Dyeing), a solution consisting essentially of aluminium acetate, used as a mordant in the fixation of dyestuffs on vegetable fiber; so called because used originally for red dyestuffs. Called also red mordant.
Red maggot (Zool.), the larva of the wheat midge.
Red manganese. (Min.) Same as Rhodochrosite. Red man, one of the American Indians; so called from his color.
Red maple (Bot.), a species of maple (Acer rubrum). See Maple. Red mite. (Zool.) See Red spider, below.
Red mulberry (Bot.), an American mulberry of a dark purple color (Morus rubra).
Red mullet (Zool.), the surmullet. See Mullet. Red ocher (Min.), a soft earthy variety of hematite, of a reddish color.
Red perch (Zool.), the rosefish.
Red phosphorus. (Chem.) See under Phosphorus. Red pine (Bot.), an American species of pine (Pinus resinosa); so named from its reddish bark.
Red precipitate. See under Precipitate. Red Republican (European Politics), originally, one who maintained extreme republican doctrines in France, because a red liberty cap was the badge of the party; an extreme radical in social reform. (Cant)
Red ribbon, the ribbon of the Order of the Bath in England.
Red sanders. (Bot.) See Sanders. Red sandstone. (Geol.) See under Sandstone. Red scale (Zool.), a scale insect (Aspidiotus aurantii) very injurious to the orange tree in California and Australia.
Red silver (Min.), an ore of silver, of a ruby-red or reddish black color. It includes proustite, or light red silver, and pyrargyrite, or dark red silver.
Red snapper (Zool.), a large fish (Lutjanus aya syn. Lutjanus Blackfordii) abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and about the Florida reefs.
Red snow, snow colored by a mocroscopic unicellular alga (Protococcus nivalis) which produces large patches of scarlet on the snows of arctic or mountainous regions.
Red softening (Med.) a form of cerebral softening in which the affected parts are red, a condition due either to infarction or inflammation.
Red spider (Zool.), a very small web-spinning mite (Tetranychus telarius) which infests, and often destroys, plants of various kinds, especially those cultivated in houses and conservatories. It feeds mostly on the under side of the leaves, and causes them to turn yellow and die. The adult insects are usually pale red. Called also red mite.
Red squirrel (Zool.), the chickaree.
Red tape, (a)the tape used in public offices for tying up documents, etc. Hence,
(b)official formality and delay; excessive bureaucratic paperwork.
Red underwing (Zool.), any species of noctuid moths belonging to Catacola and allied genera. The numerous species are mostly large and handsomely colored. The under wings are commonly banded with bright red or orange.
Red water, a disease in cattle, so called from an appearance like blood in the urine.
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