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Fire   Listen
noun
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.
(c)
A crucible.
(d)
A solderer's 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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Fire" Quotes from Famous Books



... I went quickly and alone in my good Cherry to Twin Oaks, was admitted by Bonbon, whom I instructed not in any way to allow that I be interrupted, ascended to my own apartment and seated myself in a large chair before the glowing ashes of a small fire of fragrant chip twigs, which kind Madam Kizzie had had lighted, against what she called a "May chill," during my toilet of the morning. Above me from the mantelshelf, that Grandmamma Carruthers looked ...
— The Daredevil • Maria Thompson Daviess

... innovator, in such a state of society, only risked death, and death is a gain to those who labor for the future. Imagine Jesus reduced to bear the burden of his divinity until his sixtieth or seventieth year, losing his celestial fire, wearing out little by little under the burden of an unparalleled mission! Everything favors those who have a special destiny; they become glorious by a sort of invincible impulse and command ...
— The Life of Jesus • Ernest Renan

... proceeded about an hour in this way, when the moon was suddenly obscured; thick clouds gathered round from all sides, and the darkness soon became so great that we could scarcely see a few steps before us. The foremost man continually struck fire, so as to light up the path somewhat by the sparks. But this did not help us much, the animals began to slip and stumble. We were compelled to halt, and stood quiet and motionless, one behind the other, as if suddenly changed to stone by magic. Life returned ...
— A Woman's Journey Round the World • Ida Pfeiffer

... under the cherry-coloured scarf and it vexed him that another eye should have been quicker than his. The leader of the reel, who looked as if he had Irish blood in his veins, danced well, and his partner caught his fire. As she passed down the line, her light figure swinging from hand to hand in circles of increasing swiftness, the scarf flew off her head and stood out behind her shoulders, and Frome, at each turn, caught sight of her ...
— Ethan Frome • Edith Wharton

... And I often tossed myself upward and downward, considering first such things as these, whether when heat and cold have undergone a certain corruption, as some say, then animals are formed; and whether the blood is that by means of which we think, or air, or fire, or none of these, but that it is the brain that produces the perceptions of hearing, seeing, and smelling; and that from these come memory and opinion; and from memory and opinion, when in a state of rest, in the same way knowledge is produced. 103. And, again, considering ...
— Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates • Plato

... examining the old lady, astonished to find her so erect and full of life at seventy. Her former beauty had left a stately charm on her rather long face; youthful fire still lingered in her brown eyes; and very firm was the contour of her pale lips, which in parting showed that she had retained all her teeth. A few white hairs alone silvered her black tresses, which were arranged in old-time fashion. Her cheeks ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... such was the barbarous sentence), cut down, embowelled, and mangled by the knife of the executioner. All this she supported with apparent fortitude; but when she saw the last scene, finished, by throwing Dawson's heart into the fire, she drew her head within the carriage, repeated his name, and expired on the spot." This melancholy event was made, by Shenstone, the theme of a ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1 • Horace Walpole

... have a cabin when there could not have been enough for better men, is a query], shot her off in the cabin, there being a little barrel of powder half-full scattered in and about the cabin, the fire being within four feet of the bed, between the decks, . . . and many people ...
— The Mayflower and Her Log, Complete • Azel Ames

... rolls his eyes to the ceilin'. Say, it was the liveliest French prayin' I ever saw; for Heiney is rockin' back and forth, his pop eyes leakin' brine, and the polly-voo conversation is bubblin' out of him like water out of a bu'sted fire hydrant. ...
— Odd Numbers - Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe • Sewell Ford

... know he would not be a wolf, But that he sees the Romans are but sheep. He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. Those that with haste will make a mighty fire, Begin it with—WEAK STRAWS. What trash is—Rome What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves for the base matter to illuminate So vile a thing as—Caesar. But— I perhaps speak this Before ...
— The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded • Delia Bacon

... spiritualities of the German sentimental school: opposed, too, to that spirit of transcendentalism which also was root and flower itself of the great Revolution, underlying the impassioned contemplation of Wordsworth and giving wings and fire to the eagle-like flight of Shelley, and which in the sphere of philosophy, though displaced by the materialism and positiveness of our day, bequeathed two great schools of thought, the school of Newman to Oxford, the school of Emerson to America. Yet is this spirit ...
— Miscellanies • Oscar Wilde

... kitchen went Susan and I to get boiling water, I heaped wood and coals on the fire, she blew it with the bellows, old Mrs. ——— was upstairs getting brandy and other things ready. What followed I recollect as well as if it were yesterday. Susan was half squatting, half kneeling and blowing the fire furiously. Standing by her my randiness ...
— My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III. - 1888 Edition • Anonymous

... whether it was Naisi himself, or Alny, or Ardan, and the two thus remaining were like children playing together, whether gathering sticks and dry rushes and long spears of withered grass for their fire, or wandering by the white curling waves, or sending flat pebbles skipping over the wavelets; and the sound of their laughter many a time echoed along the Loch's green waters and up the hills, till the does peered and wondered from ...
— Ireland, Historic and Picturesque • Charles Johnston

... distinguished generals. "Bony" was the dread of all magistrates, especially in Ireland. At Passage, near Waterford, Bianconi was arrested for having sold a leaden framed picture of the famous French Emperor. He was thrown into a cold guard-room, and spent the night there without bed, or fire, or food. Next morning he was discharged by the magistrate, but cautioned that he must not sell any ...
— Men of Invention and Industry • Samuel Smiles

... statue now stands where he is supposed to have stood when he told his men to reserve their fire till they saw the whites of the enemy's eyes. Those who have examined the cast-iron flint-lock weapon used in those days will admit that this order was wise. Those guns were in union to health, of course, when used to excess, but not necessarily or ...
— Remarks • Bill Nye

... picture, and there had been few or no small earnings. Perhaps, if he hadn't written those articles to the Mirror, there would have been time for some? Well, why shouldn't he write them? His irritable pride took fire at once at the thought ...
— Fenwick's Career • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... another. Strangely familiar faces some of them seemed, memories from dreams long ago. There had been hands on the estate in Virginia, men he had been rather afraid of when he was a little child; they seemed to stare at him now for a moment, lit by a red fire which no longer seemed merely the light from the lanterns. Then came other faces; that of the man he and Seth had found on the Tremont road, that of Sabatier's companion at the inn. Then the faces of the men who had made a rush for the stairs that night at the Lion d'Or fiercely ...
— The Light That Lures • Percy Brebner

... face of the resentments of the public opinion of the day; or by his fearless desertion of all reigning politics to lead a feeble band of protestants through the wilderness of anti-slavery wanderings, its pillar of cloud by day, its pillar of fire by night; or, as Governor of Ohio, facing the intimidations of the Slave States, backed by Federal power and a storm of popular passion; or in consolidating the triumphant politics on the urgent issue which was to flame out into rebellion and revolt; or ...
— The History of Dartmouth College • Baxter Perry Smith

... is repair day, rips are sewed up, buttons sewed on clothing, and for the initiated, the darning of socks. In camps with permanent buildings a big log fire roars in the fireplace, the boys sprawl on the floor with their faces toward the fire, and while the rain plays a tattoo[1] upon the roof some one reads aloud an interesting story, such as "Treasure Island," "The Shadowless Man," "The ...
— Camping For Boys • H.W. Gibson

... into the khafe-khana room and deposited the lot on the raised mud portion along the wall, seating myself next to my property. I ordered tea, and the attendant, with many salaams, explained that his fire had gone out, but that if I would wait a few minutes he would make me some fresh chah. I consented. He inquired whether the revolver was loaded, and I said it was. He proceeded to the further end of the room, where, turning his back ...
— Across Coveted Lands - or a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta Overland • Arnold Henry Savage Landor

... effaced are the impressions of childhood! Even at this day, at the mention of the evil angel, an image rises before me like that with which I used especially to horrify myself in an old copy of Pilgrim's Progress. Horned, hoofed, scaly, and fire-breathing, his caudal extremity twisted tight with rage, I remember him, illustrating the tremendous encounter of Christian in the valley where "Apollyon straddled over the whole breadth of the way." There was another print of the enemy which made no slight impression ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... and garlands, for protecting that point. Supported by his own angry sons, that foremost of all wielders of weapons, that hero, shone resplendent at the head of the army as he drew his bow repeatedly. The mighty-armed Duhshasana, possessed of the effulgence of the sun or fire with tawny eyes and handsome features, riding on the neck of a huge elephant, surrounded by many troops, and stationed at the rear of the army gradually approached for fight. Behind him came Duryodhana himself, O monarch, ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown

... grew up a host of shapes and differences. Out of the vague and limitless body there sprung a central mass,—this earth of ours, cylindrical in shape, poised equidistant from surrounding orbs of fire, which had originally clung to it like the bark round a tree, until their continuity was severed, and they parted into several wheel-shaped and fire-filled bubbles of air. Man himself and the animals had come into being ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... blast of the trumpet at once converts men of peaceful pursuits into warriors. Every war in which America has been engaged has done this; the valor that wins our battles is not the trained hardihood of veterans, but a native and spontaneous fire; and there is surely a chivalrous beauty in the devotion of the citizen soldier to his country's cause, which the man who makes arms his profession, and is but doing his regular business on the field of battle, cannot pretend to rival. Taking the Mexican War as a specimen, this peculiar composition ...
— Sketches and Studies • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... deepening, and becoming more and more beautiful every minute, till the short southern twilight is over; the somewhat harsh outline of the obelisk is softened during this brief point of time; a gentle air, (the breath of evening,) fans our cheek; fire-flies light their lamps all around, and night suddenly overtakes us,—"ruit nox." Scarcely ten minutes have elapsed since we stood here, and already the dilated nostril and meaning eye of the restive coursers, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. • Various

... concentratedly feline in his attitude and would hardly have been surprised had he pounced bodily upon a fine object as it passed near him down the aisle. No other ghost of the auction rooms—and strange enthusiasts they are, had an eye that gleamed with so ominous a fire. There is peril in turning even a weak will into a narrow channel. It may exert amazing pressures—like the slender column of mere water that lifts a loaded car to, or with bad ...
— The Collectors • Frank Jewett Mather

... stayed at that "farm" which is portrayed in the double page of the book; he has endured that shell-swept "'ole" that is depicted on the cover; he has watched the disappearance of that "blinkin' parapet" shown on one page; has had his hair cut under fire as shown on another. And having been through it all, he has just put down what he has seen and heard and ...
— Fragments From France • Captain Bruce Bairnsfather

... 4:30 in the late afternoon. Barby Brant sat with her close friend, Jan Miller, before the roaring fire in the library. ...
— The Egyptian Cat Mystery • Harold Leland Goodwin

... the words, and John Hullah composed the music. It consists of songs, duets, and concerted pieces, and was first produced at St. James's Theatre, London, on December 6, 1836. The following year it was being performed at Edinburgh when a fire broke out in the theatre, and the instrumental scores together with the music of the concerted pieces were destroyed. No fresh copy was ever made, but the songs are still to be obtained. Mr. Kitton, in his biography of the novelist, says, 'The ...
— Charles Dickens and Music • James T. Lightwood

... mind. He has chosen one out of very many that needs explanation. The true cause of volcanic eruption, he says, is that air is driven into the pores of the earth, and when this comes into contact with lava and flint which contain atoms of fire, it creates the explosions that cause such destruction. After a second invitation to the reader to appreciate the worth of such a theme he tells the story of two brothers of Catania who, when other refugees from Aetna's explosion rescued their worldly ...
— Vergil - A Biography • Tenney Frank

... put in place two more forked stakes, with a cross-bar, and hung a kettle and built a fire beneath, and brought water and got out a frying-pan and bread and prepared for supper. All articles not demanded for immediate use were stowed away just back of the tent. "And," he remarked, "there ...
— A Man and a Woman • Stanley Waterloo

... his son and lamenteth him right sweetly, and all they of the castle after him. Thereafter he maketh light a great show of torches in the midst of the city, and causeth a great fire to be made, and his son be set thereon in a brazen vessel all full of water, and maketh him be cooked and sodden over this fire, and maketh the Giant's head be ...
— High History of the Holy Graal • Unknown

... Commission who subsequently sat to try the conspirators were able to discover was that the Cardinal had been taken to the dungeon beneath the north tower, and there tortured horribly for several days, and afterwards burned at the stake in the courtyard, the fire being ignited by Lord Glencardine himself, and the dead Cardinal's ashes afterwards scattered ...
— The House of Whispers • William Le Queux

... went to the Picture Show of 'Labrador Luck.' That, or at least the plot, the backbone of it, was Blair's and mine. Together we doped it out, sitting by our camp fire up there in the wilds, old Kit dozing near by. He talked with us about it now and then, but his plans were different from ours. All for a monster, spectacular production which he has achieved, while Blair and I planned a little light comedy affair. But the plot, the great theme of the thing, ...
— The Come Back • Carolyn Wells

... life remain much the same, we experience changes of the inner life, that are at times amazing and terrible. They come like the swelling of the tide, and like the beating of the waves rolling on from a distant ocean; the deep emotions of the soul arise and swell and sweep away; the fire of thought is kindled; the imagination paints the canvas; the tongue stands ready to utter the influx of love and wisdom; and the hand ...
— Words of Cheer for the Tempted, the Toiling, and the Sorrowing • T. S. Arthur

... placing himself at the head of his men with Arnold beside him, he marched quickly and silently up the hill to the gateway of the fort. When the astonished sentinel saw this body of men creeping out of the morning dusk he fired at their leader. But his gun missed fire and ...
— This Country Of Ours • H. E. Marshall Author: Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall

... higher than the adjacent curtains, and pierced near the top with square openings furnished with mantlets, so as to give both a front and flank view of the assailants. The wooden doors in the receded face were covered with metal and raw hides, thus affording a protection against axe or fire.* ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12) • G. Maspero

... hour was made up of bewilderment to Ester. She had a confused remembrance afterward of floating across a silver river in a palace; of reaching a place where everybody screamed instead of talked, and where all the bells were ringing for fire, or something else. She looked eagerly about for her uncle, and saw at least fifty men who resembled him, as she saw him last, about ten years ago. She fumbled nervously for his address in her pocket-book, and gave Mr. Newton a recipe for making mince pies instead; ...
— Ester Ried • Pansy (aka. Isabella M. Alden)

... which is not necessary to perfect housekeeping, it follows that there is no power of the mind or affection of the heart which may not be gratified in the course of its discharge. As Margaret and her guest enjoyed their pheasant, their table drawn close to the sofa and the fire, that Maria might be saved the trouble of moving, their talk was of tradespeople, of shopping at Deerbrook, and the market at Birmingham; of the kitchen and store-room, and the winter and summer arrangements of the table. The foot-boy, whom Margaret was teaching to wait, often forgot ...
— Deerbrook • Harriet Martineau

... giants were as silent as the Gray Men, and stood motionless while Prince Marvel and Nerle rode slowly up the marble roadway. But all their brows were scowling terribly and their eyes were red and glaring—as if they were balls of fire. ...
— The Enchanted Island of Yew • L. Frank Baum

... be lucky if you escape Detective Carter," sternly retorted Nick, quickly stamping out the fire. "I'll finally land you, my crafty young woman, though I lie awake ...
— With Links of Steel • Nicholas Carter

... evening. William observed with especial attention the effect produced by the Irish shots on the English regiments which had never been in action, and declared himself satisfied with the result. "All is right," he said; "they stand fire well." Long after sunset he made a final inspection of his forces by torchlight, and gave orders that every thing should be ready for forcing a passage across the river on the morrow. Every soldier was to put a green bough in his hat. The baggage and great coats were to be left under a guard. The ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 3 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... arter us, and gained on us too, so as most to overtake us, jist as I come to the bars of the cow yard, over went Mooler, like a fox, brought me whap up agin 'em, which knocked all the wind out of my lungs and the fire out of my eyes, and laid me sprawlin on the ground, and every one of the flock went right slap over me, all but one—poor Brindle. She never came home agin. Bear nabbed her, and tore her most ridiculous. He eat what he wanted, which was no trifle, ...
— The Attache - or, Sam Slick in England, Complete • Thomas Chandler Haliburton

... the fire of the denunciation had, indeed, a momentary yet visible effect in the banker's expression. Whatever the emotions thus lashed to self-betrayal, anger, hatred,—fear, perhaps, Hodder could not detect a trace of penitence; and he was ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... not Northumberland, brought ever forth. Though no southern shore may match the sons that kiss her mouth, Children worthier all the birthright given of the ardent north, Where the fire of hearts outburns the suns that fire ...
— Northumberland Yesterday and To-day • Jean F. Terry

... work is like the pillar of cloud and fire which guided the Israelites through the desert—a pillar of cloud to guide us by day, a pillar of fire to guide us by night, "so that we may progress both day and night." His obscurity and his light trace for ...
— Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, "From Paris to Rome: - Years of Travel as a Virtuoso" • Franz Liszt; Letters assembled by La Mara and translated

... the enemy did, we were not to fire till we got close up to them. There were to be no long shots with us. It had become almost dark before we arrived abreast of the three sternmost ships. "Take care that not a gun is fired till I give the order," ...
— Old Jack • W.H.G. Kingston

... and deeper a foundation are they seen to rest, when we find (as will be shown hereafter, chap. 8) that they were preparatory to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. As in a burning mass, the heat and flame of each separate piece of fuel are increased by the surrounding fire, so in the plan of redemption, each separate revelation receives new light and glory from the revelations which precede and follow it. It is only when we view the revelations of the Bible as thus progressing "from glory to glory," that we can estimate aright the proofs ...
— Companion to the Bible • E. P. Barrows

... report of our spies, was your magazine of ammunition, etc. We had not time to finish it before daylight; but one loaded twenty-four pounder was mounted, and our cannoneer, the moment he was about to fire it, was killed. Six more of our men, in the same attempt, experienced the same fate. My regiment constituted the advanced guard nearest to the spot, and La Fayette brought me the order from the commander-in-chief to engage some of my men upon that desperate undertaking. I spoke to them, and two ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... fire, i.e. having a higher or diviner nature. (Or, as there is really no question of degree, we may render the phrase as divine.) Compare the Platonic doctrine that each element had living creatures belonging to it, those of fire being the gods; similarly the ...
— Milton's Comus • John Milton

... yet with the audacious Boythorn, though at uncertain intervals, and now hotly, and now coolly, flickering like an unsteady fire. The truth is said to be that when Sir Leicester came down to Lincolnshire for good, Mr. Boythorn showed a manifest desire to abandon his right of way and do whatever Sir Leicester would, which Sir Leicester, conceiving to be a condescension to his illness ...
— Bleak House • Charles Dickens

... his most marked feature. They were hungry eyes, pathetic as a caged beast's and as savage. No one could see them without pitying him, and no man in his senses would have accepted their owner's word on any point at all. A man looks as he did when the fire of a burning velt has circled him and there is no way out. There was fear behind them, and the look of restless search for safety ...
— Rung Ho! • Talbot Mundy

... for day and warmth in its long struggle with night and cold. Then Nature rises and shakes herself as Samson rose and shook himself and snapped the seven new cords that bound him, as tow is snapped when it smells the fire. Then "the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest," and then also the young Hindu's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love; and so it came about quite naturally that, looking around, among his plentiful gods, for a deity who might fitly ...
— Concerning Animals and Other Matters • E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton)

... there was no dramatic father in waiting. There were no bills, no scenes, no thought of secret errands; merely a drawing-room in which a fire was burning and where, presently, ...
— The Paliser case • Edgar Saltus

... sleep, but could not for Jersey mosquitoes had entered their bedroom. Earnest effort drove the mosquitoes out, and the light was again extinguished. Soon Mike saw a luminous insect, a big fire-fly approaching. Quickly he roused his companion saying, 'Pat, wake up! Quick! Let's be going! It's no use trying to get more sleep here, there comes another Jersey mosquito hunting us ...
— The Harris-Ingram Experiment • Charles E. Bolton

... loud Lay taking and returning, His own fire set his vessel proud, His Dannebrog, a burning. "Slip anchor, Sir," his sailors cry, "To land for safety let us fly!" Our native land has ...
— Targum • George Borrow

... is passing from before his countenance, and we can begin again to see his smile. It will be with our sons as it was with our fathers. Our hunting-grounds will be our own, and the buffalo and deer will be plenty in our wigwams. The fire-water will flow after them that brought it into the country, and the red man will once more be ...
— Oak Openings • James Fenimore Cooper

... then, with sister Una and myself, determined to make our escape from this scene of confusion. We took a little basket of provision, with a hatchet and a jug of water, and started for our favorite hollow. Often, in the long winter evenings, we brothers and sisters would sit round the fire, and tell what we would do when we grew up to be men and women. But there was one thing which we always agreed upon, and it was this: that we would all live together, in a little cottage in the woods, where we could have plenty of room to move about in, and do just as we pleased. ...
— No and Other Stories Compiled by Uncle Humphrey • Various

... sharper and more subtle in the edge than steel, and because steel might consume away with rust, but flint not; and consider in the whole description how the wasting away of body and soul together, and the coldness of the heart, which unholy fire has consumed into ashes, and the loss of all power, and the kindling of all terrible impatience, and the implanting of thorny and inextricable griefs, are set forth by the various images, the belt of brake, the tiger ...
— The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3) • John Ruskin

... which blew so strong, that the Resolution was at one time nearly on shore. At Parramatta, during the gale, a public granary, in which were upwards of two thousand four hundred bushels of shelled maize or Indian corn, caught fire, through the carelessness of some servants who were boiling food for stock close to the building (which was a thatched one), and all the corn, together with a number of fine hogs the property of an individual, ...
— An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1 • David Collins

... and gradually worked her way to a place along the lakeside where the undergrowth was very thick, and where she could watch without fear of discovery. She was less than a quarter of a mile away from the place where the two had landed, and as she watched them making camp, the smell of their fire was blown across to her. Neither of the two travellers showed any disposition to leave the lakeside, and she watched them for quite a long time, a look of deep ...
— A Mating in the Wilds • Ottwell Binns

... common with that of most philosophers, offers no events, except that he came near being killed in the crush and riot in the rue Royale that followed the fire at the Dauphin's wedding in 1770. [15:18] He was never an official personage. His entire life was spent in study, writing and conversation with his friends. He traveled very little; the world came to him, to the Caf de l'Europe, ...
— Baron d'Holbach - A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France • Max Pearson Cushing

... the gloomy structure. The huge column of black smoke rose uninterruptedly into the sky, and the noise of the great engine never ceased for an instant. The mob gathered closer on all sides and redoubled the fire of the rifles, to which was now added the belching of several machine-guns. Ragged holes began to appear in the walls, and at the sight of these the assailants yelled with delight. It was evident that, the mill could not ...
— The Moon Metal • Garrett P. Serviss

... hall flew open. In the dusky opening the woman's lean and masculine form looked wondrous tall; her hollow eyes burned with unnatural fire; her thin and ...
— How Janice Day Won • Helen Beecher Long

... indefatigableness; bulldog courage. V. persevere, persist; hold on, hold out; die in the last ditch, be in at the death; stick to, cling to, adhere to; stick to one's text, keep on; keep to one's course, keep to one's ground, maintain one's course, maintain one's ground; go all lengths, go through fire and water; bear up, keep up, hold up; plod; stick to work &c. (work) 686; continue &c. 143; follow up; die in harness, die at one's post. Adj. persevering, constant; steady, steadfast; undeviating, unwavering, unfaltering, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus • Peter Mark Roget

... Army. I was amused when I heard Priestley telling his servant that we had moved into General Gough's Army; the servant replied 'Oh, he's a fighting man, isn't he, sir? We're in for something big now!' (General Gough had the reputation of being 'a fire eater.') ...
— At Ypres with Best-Dunkley • Thomas Hope Floyd

... to have smitten with sick horror the bravest man who ever lived. For there, beside the smouldering embers of the great feast-fire, littered with bones and indescribable refuse, a creature was squatting on its hams—one of the Horde, indeed, yet vastly different, tremendously more venomous, more ...
— Darkness and Dawn • George Allan England

... outside and inside of the hut. Shortly after the Fins came home, and asked who had been there; and she answered, "Nobody has been here." "That is wonderful," said they, "we followed the traces close to the hut, and can find none after that." Then they kindled a fire, and made ready their meat, and Gunhild prepared her bed. It had so happened that Gunhild had slept the three nights before, but the Fins had watched the one upon the other, being jealous of each other. "Now," she said to the Fins, "come here, and lie down one on each side of me." On which they were ...
— Heimskringla - The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway • Snorri Sturluson

... forward, and picking up a fistful, allowed it to trickle slowly through my fingers. The stuff was quite safe to handle; that was one of its beauties. I could have put a lighted match to it or thrown it on the fire without the faintest risk; the only possible method of releasing its appalling power being the explosion of a few grains of gunpowder or dynamite in its immediate vicinity. I had no intention of allowing that interesting event to occur until ...
— A Rogue by Compulsion • Victor Bridges

... n. A traditional {mainframe} computer room complete with raised flooring, special power, its own ultra-heavy-duty air conditioning, and a side order of Halon fire ...
— THE JARGON FILE, VERSION 2.9.10

... of the flood reclining, Ruined arch and wall and broken spire, Down beneath the watery mirror shining, Gleam and flash in flakes of golden fire. ...
— Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. • F. Max Mueller

... over the increasing roughness of the river-bed, I saw the triangular delta of which my father had told me, and the stream that had formed it, bounding down the mountain side. Doctor went right up to the place where my father's fire had been, and I again found many pieces of charred ...
— Erewhon Revisited • Samuel Butler

... Dean Milman, born in 1791, best known by his very valuable labours in history, may be taken as representing a class of writers in whom the poetic fire is ever on the point, and only on the point, of breaking into a flame. His composition is admirable—refined, scholarly, sometimes rich and even gorgeous in expression—yet lacking that radiance of the unutterable to which the loftiest words owe their grandest power. Perhaps ...
— England's Antiphon • George MacDonald

... tired—yes, I am deadly tired; and I feel now as if I wanted to get out of it all, and just leave things to work themselves out. I have meddled, and I am being punished for meddling. I have been playing with fire, and I have been burnt. I had thought of a new sort of life. Don't you remember," he added with a smile, "the monkey in Buckland's book, who got into the kettle on the hob, and whenever he tried to leave it, found it so cold outside, that he dared ...
— Watersprings • Arthur Christopher Benson

... being to compensate a person in case of pecuniary loss through the accidental burning of his property. By paying annually a com- paratively small amount in the shape of pre- mium, a person may insure that in case of the destruction by fire of such of his goods as may be specified in a fire policy, issued by the Insur- ance Company, he will be recouped their value. Nearly all the Fire Insurance offices are agreed in charging a certain rate of premium, which ...
— Everybody's Guide to Money Matters • William Cotton, F.S.A.

... this crevice, I perceived a fire in the chimney, but the object of my visit was nowhere to be seen. I knocked and requested admission, but no answer was made. At length I lifted the latch and entered. ...
— Edgar Huntley • Charles Brockden Brown

... half a century ago, that meal was a matter of greater importance than it is to-day. A fire burned in the dining-room, glowing warmly on the mellow walls and gleaming furniture; but there was no lamp, nor need of one, in a room with large windows facing ...
— The Last Hope • Henry Seton Merriman

... pistols in their belts, and the men had their cutlasses—weapons on which British seamen always place more reliance than on firearms. They were now within gunshot of the schooner, but she did not fire, nor were any signs visible that she intended to offer resistance. Green steered for the starboard quarter, and directed Tom to board on the port side. They were soon up with her; Tom and Billy, with six men, scrambled up on deck, which Green and his party gained at the same time; ...
— The Three Commanders • W.H.G. Kingston

... say to this, I went and lay down on the sofa before the parlor-fire. Though a grate in January is a poor affair—I never knew any human being who really depended on one in winter to speak in praise of it—on a cool August day it is delicious. I fell into a warm doze before the fire, then into a series of agreeable ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, September 1880 • Various

... peace or war; as tyrants or suppliants; as conquerors armed with unknown weapons of destruction; as the insidious purchasers of his hunting-grounds, betraying him into an accursed thirst for the deadly fire-water; as the greedy gold-seekers, crushing his feeble frame under the hated labors of the mine; as shipwrecked and hungry wanderers, while receiving his simple alms, marking the fertility and defenselessness of his lands; as sick men enjoying ...
— The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Warburton

... calling for the man of the house, desired he would provide a handsome post chaise, and if he knew any fellows whose integrity might be relied on, he thought necessary to hire two such, who, furnished with fire-arms, might serve as a guard against any attack the count might take it into his head ...
— The Fortunate Foundlings • Eliza Fowler Haywood

... little difference. Dr. Donne, the Dean of St. Paul's, estimated that in November there died a thousand a day in the city of London and within the circuit of a mile. "The citizens fled away as out of a house on fire," he writes,(298) they "stuffed their pockets with their best ware and threw themselves into the highways, and were not received so much as into barns, and perished so, some of them with more money about them than would have bought the village where they died." ...
— London and the Kingdom - Volume II • Reginald R. Sharpe

... the only thought of the humanists, has been obliged to move up and become condensed. But mark, the priests who keep alive her fires can still show their ordination from the hands of the divine Raphael. The age may be unsympathetic, but for those who will worship, the fire burns. Whereas art was once uplifted by the joyous acclaim of the whole people, she must now fight for space in a jostling competition. But is it not more reasonable that the prophet lay aside his sackcloth and accept the conditions of the new era, acknowledging ...
— Pictorial Composition and the Critical Judgment of Pictures • Henry Rankin Poore

... the ingredients, except the force-meat balls and lemon-juice, in an earthen jar, and stew for 6 hours. Do not open it till cold. When wanted for use, skim off all the fat, and strain carefully; place it on the fire, cut up the meat into inch-and-a-half squares, put it, with the force-meat balls and lemon-juice, into the soup, and serve. It can be flavoured with a tablespoonful of ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... the points o' faith Wi' ratlin' an' wi' thumpin'! Now meekly calm, now wild in wrath, He's stampin an' he's jumpin'! His lengthen'd chin, his turn'd-up snout, His eldritch squeel and gestures, Oh, how they fire the heart devout, Like cantharidian ...
— The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. • Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham

... aimlessly into the room as if I had no particular business there. I saw with surprise that the chap who had proposed to steal the horses was one of the merchants of the town at whose store I had occasionally traded. In the far end of the room, reading a newspaper by the light of a small fire, sat a slip of a youth. He wore a military cloak that covered his figure from his neck to ...
— A Little Union Scout • Joel Chandler Harris

... time Miss Katherine always has a beautiful crackling fire in her room, and some growing flowers and green things. It was a revelation to the girls, her room was. Not fine, and it didn't cost much, but you felt nicer and kinder the minute you went in it. And it made Mrs. Reagan's grand parlors seem like ...
— Mary Cary - "Frequently Martha" • Kate Langley Bosher

... foolish man," exclaimed Mr. Gibbs, "you would have perished up there—no fire, no shelter but that cabin, and very little food. Even if, kept warm and alive by your excitement and ambition, you had been able to send one message, you ...
— The Great Stone of Sardis • Frank R. Stockton

... death as a soldier; once or twice, as when he rushed into fire to save Kinraid, his chances of life had been as one to a hundred; but yet he had had a chance. But now there was the new feeling—the last new feeling which we shall any of us experience in this world—that death was not only close ...
— Sylvia's Lovers, Vol. III • Elizabeth Gaskell

... SAVIMBI, leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), signed a peace treaty that calls for multiparty elections between September and November 1992, an internationally monitored cease-fire, and termination of ...
— The 1991 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... the bird of Jove Resolved to speak, though dismal it should prove; Yet was afraid, when he saw them in ire, They should o'erthrow quite flat down dead th' empire. He rather choosed the fire from heaven to steal, To boats where were red herrings put to sale; Than to be calm 'gainst those, who strive to brave us, And to the Massorets' ...
— Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete. • Francois Rabelais

... had drowned itself in the ocean; and Mary went out on to her balcony, in the dead silence which was like peace after war. The hollow bell of the sky, swept clear of clouds by the steel broom of the mistral, blazed with blue fire, and the sea was so crystal pure that it seemed one might look down through violet depths into the caves of the mer-people. The still air was very cold; and it seemed to Mary that if the joy of life were not exhausted for her, she might have ...
— The Guests Of Hercules • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

... last he came to a stop altogether.... "Certain things must be said clearly," he whispered. "Certain things—The meaning of England.... The deep and long-unspoken desire for kindliness and fairness.... Now is the time for speaking. It must be put as straight now as her gun-fire, as honestly as the steering ...
— Mr. Britling Sees It Through • H. G. Wells

... winter, with a glow from the open fire playing over a red rug, "revealing shadowy outline of bookcases, and dim velvet draperies, as a deep-shaded lamp throws a beam of light over the arm of a big reading chair," red seems indeed an ideal color ...
— Prepare and Serve a Meal and Interior Decoration • Lillian B. Lansdown

... business, which we could not finish before it was necessary I should set off, and I had not time to burn a single paper. The marechal offered to take upon himself to sort what I should leave behind me, and throw into the fire every sheet that he found useless, without trusting to any person whomsoever, and to send me those of which he should make choice. I accepted his offer, very glad to be delivered from that care, that I might pass the few hours I had to remain ...
— The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau, Complete • Jean Jacques Rousseau

... a small square hole, keeping the interior dark and cool; and the defence is a screen of cane-work, fastened with a rude wooden latch. The flooring is hard, tamped clay, in the centre of which the fire is laid; the cooking, however, is confined to the broad eaves, or to the compound which, surrounded with neat walls, backs the house. The interior is divided into the usual "but" and "ben." The latter ...
— Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton

... was there no ado when my voice were known! The hall fire embers were stirren up, and fresh logs cast thereon, and in ten minutes was I sat afore it of a great chair, with all the blankets in Cumberland around and over me, and a steaming hot ...
— Joyce Morrell's Harvest - The Annals of Selwick Hall • Emily Sarah Holt

... little. I don't see as she seems over-anxious to do anything there but sit, I tell her. Not but what she knows how well enough. Mr. Gaylord, too, he's great for being round in the kitchen. If he gets up in the night, when he has his waking spells, he had rather take his lamp out there, if there's a fire left, and read, any time, than what he would in the parlor. Well, we used to sit there together a good deal when we were young, and he got the habit of it. There's everything in habit," she added, thoughtfully. "Marcia, she's got quite in the way, ...
— A Modern Instance • William Dean Howells

... treatises on all these, and on other subjects, especially gardening and gunnery. He was the inventor of an improved lock to the arquebus, and first divined how to adapt the disposition of his troops to the use of the newly- discovered fire-arms. And in all these things his versatile head and ready hand were personally employed, not by deputy; while coupled with so much artistic taste was a violent passion for hunting, which carried him through many hairbreadth 'scapes. ...
— The Dove in the Eagle's Nest • Charlotte M. Yonge

... bonny babe, or weak, defenceless woman, but always some one fat, tender, and juicy—some one like you." And bending low over him, she bared her teeth, and dug her cruel nails deep into his flesh. A flame from the wood fire suddenly shot up. It flickered oddly on the figure of Mere Maxim—so oddly that Henri received a shock. He realized with an awful thrill that the face into which he peered was no longer that of a human being; it was—but he could no longer think—he ...
— Werwolves • Elliott O'Donnell

... increase they only do seek; And so they may have it, of them a great sort What means they use for it they care not a leek: Yet will these misers scarce once a week Have one good meal at their own table: So by Avarice to help themselves they are unable. Avarice to a fire may well compared be, To the which the more you add, the more still it crave: So likewise the covetous mind we do see, Though riches abound, do wish still more to have And to be short, your reverences to save, To a filthy swine such misers are comparable, Which, while[30] they ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VI • Robert Dodsley

... of fire were bursting on the sight of the two divers, and they speeded heels uppermost to the destiny marked out for them by the premeditations of the All-Wise, lo! Noorna was on the mountain in outer Aklis with ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... an exploring boat, partly well fill the Julia's spacious decks. The other exploring boat hangs inside the schooner's yawl at the stern. Add to these two hatch houses, a small pile of lumber, and considerable fire wood snugly stowed between the casks, and you have a fair idea of our anything but clear decks. A yellow painted bust, presumably of our namesake Julia, at the end of figure-head, peers through the fog and leads us in the darkness; ...
— Bowdoin Boys in Labrador • Jonathan Prince (Jr.) Cilley

... They made new patterns; the Diamond Company leased a plant and got some machinery in by express. We furnished the other equipment for them and in twenty days they were shipping again. We had enough stock on hand to carry us over, say, for seven or eight days, but that fire prevented us shipping cars for ten or fifteen days. Except for our having stock ahead it would have held us up for twenty days—and our expenses would have ...
— My Life and Work • Henry Ford

... for hours, and it was simply gorgeous. All inky black except the phosphorescence, miles and miles of it! And some dolphins, all covered with silver, kept racing with us and leaping clear out of the water, like wriggly bits of fire. And the stars—why, Mr. Hascombe's been telling me the most fascinating things I ever heard about stars. We've had a perfectly wonderful time, haven't ...
— The Honorable Percival • Alice Hegan Rice

... the ecclesiastics treated Galileo well, I admit it freely: they treated him as well as they possibly could. They overcame him, and he recanted; but if he had not recanted, if he had persisted in his heresy, they would—well, they would still have treated his soul well, but they would have set fire to his body. Their mistake consisted not in cruelty, but in supposing themselves the arbiters of eternal truth; and by no amount of slurring and glossing over facts can they evade the responsibility assumed by them on account of this ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11 • Various

... without uttering another word sat down close to the fire, and eagerly seizing the food we offered them, began munching away in a style which fully confirmed the account they had ...
— The Two Supercargoes - Adventures in Savage Africa • W.H.G. Kingston



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