fireman

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a man whose job is to extinguish fires; a dated or gender-specific term for a firefighter

   The fireman entered the smoke-filled building with the rest of the crew.

2. 2
   noun

   a worker who tends the fire and boiler on a steam locomotive, ship, or industrial plant

   The locomotive's fireman kept shoveling coal into the furnace.

A compound of fire + man. The occupational name first denoted a person who tended a furnace or steam boiler and was later applied to a member of a fire brigade. Firefighter is now the usual gender-neutral term for the emergency-service sense.

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