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.   --Atterbury.
 6. Liveliness of imagination or fancy; intellectual and moral enthusiasm; capacity for ardor and zeal.
    And bless their critic with a poet's fire.   --Pope.
 7. Splendor; brilliancy; luster; hence, a star.
    Stars, hide your fires.   --Shak.
 As in a zodiac
 representing the heavenly fires.   --Milton.
 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. --Simmonds.
 Fire bar, a grate bar.
 Fire basket, a portable grate; a cresset. --Knight.
 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.] --Milton.
 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. --Abbot.
 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. --Raymond.
 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. --Raymond.
 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. --Farrow.
 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. --Hoblyn.
 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.


 I·ron n.
 1. Chem. The most common and most useful metallic element, being of almost universal occurrence, usually in the form of an oxide (as hematite, magnetite, etc.), or a hydrous oxide (as limonite, turgite, etc.). It is reduced on an enormous scale in three principal forms; viz., cast iron, steel, and wrought iron. Iron usually appears dark brown, from oxidation or impurity, but when pure, or on a fresh surface, is a gray or white metal. It is easily oxidized (rusted) by moisture, and is attacked by many corrosive agents. Symbol Fe (Latin Ferrum). Atomic number 26, atomic weight 55.847.  Specific gravity, pure iron, 7.86; cast iron, 7.1. In magnetic properties, it is superior to all other substances.
 Note: ☞ The value of iron is largely due to the facility with which it can be worked. Thus, when heated it is malleable and ductile, and can be easily welded and forged at a high temperature. As cast iron, it is easily fusible; as steel, is very tough, and (when tempered) very hard and elastic. Chemically, iron is grouped with cobalt and nickel. Steel is a variety of iron containing more carbon than wrought iron, but less that cast iron. It is made either from wrought iron, by roasting in a packing of carbon (cementation) or from cast iron, by burning off the impurities in a Bessemer converter (then called Bessemer steel), or directly from the iron ore (as in the Siemens rotatory and generating furnace).
 2. An instrument or utensil made of iron; -- chiefly in composition; as, a flatiron, a smoothing iron, etc.
    My young soldier, put up your iron.   --Shak.
 3. pl. Fetters; chains; handcuffs; manacles.
    Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons.   --Macaulay.
 4. Strength; power; firmness; inflexibility; as, to rule with a rod of iron.
 5. Golf An iron-headed club with a deep face, chiefly used in making approaches, lifting a ball over hazards, etc.
 Bar iron. See Wrought iron (below).
 Bog iron, bog ore; limonite. See Bog ore, under Bog.
 Cast iron Metal., an impure variety of iron, containing from three to six percent of carbon, part of which is united with a part of the iron, as a carbide, and the rest is uncombined, as graphite. It there is little free carbon, the product is white iron; if much of the carbon has separated as graphite, it is called gray iron. See also Cast iron, in the Vocabulary.
 Fire irons. See under Fire, n.
 Gray irons. See under Fire, n.
 Gray iron. See Cast iron (above).
 It irons Naut., said of a sailing vessel, when, in tacking, she comes up head to the wind and will not fill away on either tack.
 Magnetic iron. See Magnetite.
 Malleable iron Metal., iron sufficiently pure or soft to be capable of extension under the hammer; also, specif., a kind of iron produced by removing a portion of the carbon or other impurities from cast iron, rendering it less brittle, and to some extent malleable.
 Meteoric iron Chem., iron forming a large, and often the chief, ingredient of meteorites. It invariably contains a small amount of nickel and cobalt.  Cf. Meteorite.
 Pig iron, the form in which cast iron is made at the blast furnace, being run into molds, called pigs.
 Reduced iron. See under Reduced.
 Specular iron. See Hematite.
 Too many irons in the fire, too many objects or tasks requiring the attention at once.
 White iron. See Cast iron (above).
 Wrought iron Metal., the purest form of iron commonly known in the arts, containing only about half of one per cent of carbon. It is made either directly from the ore, as in the Catalan forge or bloomery, or by purifying (puddling) cast iron in a reverberatory furnace or refinery. It is tough, malleable, and ductile. When formed into bars, it is called bar iron.