fire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The flames, heat, and light produced when something burns.

   They sat by the fire and kept warm.

2. 2
   noun

   A dangerous, often destructive event in which something burns out of control.

   They lost their home in a terrible fire.

3. 3
   verb

   To shoot a gun or weapon.

   The soldier fired three shots into the air.

4. 4
   verb

   To remove someone from their job.

   The manager fired him for being late every day.

Multiword verbs with fire

• fire off Phrasal verb A1

  to discharge a firearm so that it sends out a shot

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Fire is an Old English word descended from an ancient root that also produced Greek pur, “fire.” The Greek form is the source of later English words such as pyre and pyromaniac.

From Middle English fyr, from Old English fȳr (“fire”), from Proto-West Germanic *fuir, from *fuïr, a regularised form of Proto-Germanic *fōr (“fire”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥. Cognates See also Scots feier, fyre (“fire”), Yola vier, vire (“fire”), Saterland Frisian Fjuur, Fjúur (“fire”), West Frisian fjoer (“fire”), Alemannic German Füür (“fire”), Bavarian Feia (“fire”), Central Franconian Fauer, Feier, Füür (“fire”), Cimbrian bôar, vaür, vôar (“fire”), Dutch vier, vuur (“fire”), German Feuer (“fire”), German Low German Füer, Füür (“fire”), Luxembourgish Feier (“fire”), M…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary