• (RP) IPA: /ˈfaɪ.ə/, [faɪ̯ə]
  • (triphthong smoothing) IPA: [ˈfaə], [ˈfaː], [ˈfɑə], [ˈfɑəː]
• (General American) enPR: fīʹər, fīr, IPA: /ˈfaɪ.ɚ/, [ˈfaɪ̯ɚ], /ˈfaɪɹ/
• (Southern US, Appalachia) IPA: [ˈfäːɚ]
• (Inland North, Western New England, Ontario, Philadelphia) IPA: [fʌɪ̯ɚ]
• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA: /ˈfaɪ.ə/, [ˈfɑe̯ə]

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

fire

1. (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.
2. (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[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:

     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.

3. (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.

4. (uncountable, alchemy, philosophy) The aforementioned chemical reaction of burning, considered one of the Classical elements or basic elements of alchemy.
5. (countable, British) A heater or stove used in place of a real fire (such as an electric fire).
6. (countable) The elements necessary to start a fire.

   The fire was laid and needed to be lit.

7. (uncountable) The bullets or other projectiles fired from a gun or other ranged weapon.

   The fire from the enemy guns kept us from attacking.

8. (countable) A planned bombardment by artillery or similar weapons, or the capability to deliver such.

   We dominated the battlespace with our fires.

9. (countable, AAVE, slang) A firearm.
10. (countable, figurative) A barrage, volley
11. (rocketry) An instance of firing one or more rocket engines.

    static fire

12. Strength of passion, whether love or hate.
    • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Sheldonian] Theater, →OCLC ↗:

      He had fire in his temper.

13. Liveliness of imagination or fancy; intellectual and moral enthusiasm.
    • 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC ↗:

      And bless their critic with a poet's fire.

14. Splendour; brilliancy; lustre; hence, a star.
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:

      Stars, hide your fires.

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:

      As in a zodiac representing the heavenly fires.

15. A severe trial; anything inflaming or provoking.
16. Red coloration in a piece of opal.

• blaze
• conflagration
• inferno

see fire/translations

fire (not comparable) (predicative only)

1. (slang) Amazing; excellent.

   This is fire, keep up the amazing work!

• French: le feu
• Russian: клёвый

From Middle English firen, fyren, furen, from Old English fȳrian, from the noun (see above).

fire (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 ↗, 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.["]

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:

     That lamp was the mummy of a woman tied to a stout stake let into the rock, and he had fired her hair.

   • 1908, Jack London, The Iron Heel‎, New York: The Macmillan Company:

     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 ↗:

     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.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 144”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC ↗:

     Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

4. (transitive, employment) To terminate the employment contract of (an employee), especially for cause (such as misconduct, incompetence, or poor performance).

   Antonyms: hire

   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 226:

     The first, obvious choice was hysterical and fantastic Blanche – had there not been her timidity, her fear of being ‘fired’ […].

5. (transitive, by extension) To terminate a contract with a client; to drop a client.
6. (transitive) To shoot (a gun, rocket/missile, or analogous device).

   We will fire our guns at the enemy.

   The jet fired a salvo of rockets at the truck convoy.

   He fired his radar gun at passing cars.

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. (rocketry) To operate a rocket engine to produce thrust.

   The RCS thrusters fired several times to stabilize the tumbling spacecraft.

9. (transitive, mining) To set off an explosive in a mine.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:

     `Now are you both ready?' I said, as people do when they are going to fire a mine.

10. (transitive, sports) To shoot; to attempt to score a goal.
11. (intransitive, physiology) To cause an action potential in a cell.

    When a neuron fires, it transmits information.

12. (transitive) To forcibly direct (something).

    He answered the questions the reporters fired at him.

13. (ambitransitive, 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.

14. (transitive) To inflame; to irritate, as the passions.

    to fire the soul with anger, pride, or revenge

15. (intransitive, dated) To be irritated or inflamed with passion.
    • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:

      Love had fired my mind.

16. To animate; to give life or spirit to.

    to fire the genius of a young man

17. To feed or serve the fire of.

    to fire a boiler

18. (transitive) To light up as if by fire; to illuminate.
    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:

      [The sun] fires the proud tops of the eastern pines.

19. (transitive, farriery) To cauterize.
20. (intransitive, dated) To catch fire; to be kindled.
21. (intransitive, dated) To work as a fireman, one who keeps the fire under a steam boiler on a steam-powered ship or train.

    I fired on that train until August.

22. (slang, usually with "up") To start (an engine).

• (set on fire) See set on fire
• (transitive, shoot) let off, loose (archery), shoot
• (terminate the employment of) dehire, dismiss, give one's cards, give the boot, give the elbow, give the old heave-ho, let go, make redundant, sack, terminate, throw out, unhire; See also Thesaurus:lay off.

• French: cuire
• German: brennen
• Portuguese: cozinhar, cozer
• Russian: обжига́ть
• Spanish: cocer

• French: licencier, congédier, mettre à la porte, limoger, virer, lourder
• German: feuern, kündigen
• Italian: licenziare, dimettere
• Portuguese: despedir, demitir
• Russian: увольня́ть
• Spanish: despedir, echar, licenciar, correr (Mexico, colloquial), cesantear (Argentina, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela)

• French: tirer, faire feu
• German: abfeuern
• Italian: sparare, fare fuoco
• Portuguese: disparar, atirar
• Russian: стреля́ть
• Spanish: disparar, tirar

• French: tirer, faire feu
• German: feuern, schießen
• Italian: sparare, fare fuoco
• Portuguese: disparar
• Russian: стреля́ть
• Spanish: disparar, descargar

• French: tirer
• German: schießen
• Spanish: tirar, disparar

• German: feuern

• German: auslösen

• Portuguese: fogo
• Russian: ого́нь

fire (uncountable)

1. (finance) Acronym of financial independence and retire early
2. (economics, business) Acronym of finance, insurance and real estate: a class of businesses.

1. Acronym of Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (formerly Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) a non-profit civil liberties group founded in 1999 with the aim of protecting free speech rights on college campuses in the United States.