fire

Verb

• provide with fuel
  • Oil fires the furnace
    

• destroy by fire
  • They burned the house and his diaries
    

• call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)
  • arouse pity
    
  • raise a smile
    
  • evoke sympathy
    

• drive out or away by or as if by fire
  • The soldiers were fired
    
  • Surrender fires the cold skepticism
    

• go off or discharge
  • The gun fired
    

• terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position
  • The boss fired his secretary today
    
  • The company terminated 25% of its workers
    

• bake in a kiln so as to harden
  • fire pottery
    

• cause to go off
  • fire a gun
    
  • fire a bullet
    

• start firing a weapon

Noun

• intense adverse criticism
  • Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party
    
  • the government has come under attack
    
  • don't give me any flak
    

• a severe trial
  • he went through fire and damnation
    

• fuel that is burning and is used as a means for cooking
  • put the kettle on the fire
    
  • barbecue over an open fire
    

• feelings of great warmth and intensity
  • he spoke with great ardor
    

• once thought to be one of four elements composing the universe (Empedocles)

• a fireplace in which a relatively small fire is burning
  • they sat by the fire and talked
    

• the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and (often) smoke
  • fire was one of our ancestors' first discoveries
    

• the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy
  • hold your fire until you can see the whites of their eyes
    
  • they retreated in the face of withering enemy fire
    

• the event of something burning (often destructive)
  • they lost everything in the fire
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  fuel , burn , burn down , arouse , elicit , enkindle , kindle , evoke , raise , provoke , discharge , go off , open fire , attack , flak , flack , blast , ardor , ardour , fervor , fervour , fervency , fervidness , flame , flaming , firing