Definition of: fire

(fīr) noun
1. The evolution of heat and light by combustion.
2. The combustion thus manifested, especially the flame, or the fuel as burning.
3. A destructive burning, as of a building.
4. The discharge of firearms.
5. A spark or sparks; a light, luster, or flash.
6. Intensity of feeling or action; ardor; passion; vivacity.
7. Any raging evil; affliction; trial.
8. Fever.
9. A combustible device or substance for producing fire or for display; fireworks.
10. Lightning.
11. Poetic A luminous object in the sky, as a star or meteor.
12. Torture or death by or as by burning; also, any severe trial.
13. Obs. A North American Indian term for a family or a nation; hence, by transference, one of the United States, especially one of the first thirteen.
—colored fire A mixture of combustibles, as sulfur with a mineral salt that yields a colored light when burning: used for signals, fireworks, etc.
—Greek fire An incendiary composition, used by the Byzantine Greeks to fire enemy ships: said to ignite on contact with water.
—on fire Burning; ablaze; hence, ardent; zealous.
—under fire Exposed to gunshot or artillery fire; hence, under attack of any kind.
—v. fired, fir·ing v.t.
1. To set on fire; cause to burn.
2. To tend the fire of; put fuel in: to fire a furnace.
3. To bake, as pottery, in a kiln.
4. To cure, as tobacco, by exposure to heat.
5. To cauterize.
6. To inflame the emotions or passions of; excite.
7. To discharge, as a gun or bullet.
8. Colloq. To impel or hurl, as with force: to fire questions.
9. To cause to glow or shine.
10. U.S. Colloq. To discharge peremptorily from employment.
—v.i.
11. To take fire; become ignited.
12. To discharge firearms.
13. To discharge a missile.
14. To become inflamed or excited.
15. To tend a fire.
16. To become blotched or yellow: said of flax and grain. See synonyms under INCENSE¹.
—to fire away To begin; start.
—to fire up
1. To start a fire, as in a furnace.
2. To become enraged. [OE fӯr] Synonyms (noun): blaze, burning, combustion, conflagration, flame. Combustion is the essential fact which is at the basis of that assemblage of visible phenomena which we call fire, combustion being the continuous chemical combination of a substance with some element, as oxygen, evolving heat, and extending from slow processes, such as those by which the heat of the human body is maintained, to the processes producing the most intense light also, as in a blast furnace, or on the surface of the sun. Fire is always attended with light, as well as heat; blaze, flame, etc., designate the mingled light and heat of a fire. Combustion is the scientific, fire the popular term. A conflagration is an extensive fire. Compare LIGHT¹.