fire

A fire looks something like this:

He’s roasting hot dogs over an open fire.

A fire is composed of gases that are very hot. It can be destructive…

• That building was destroyed by fire.
• Someone set a fire in the forest and burned down several acres of trees.
• Most of their furniture and clothing were lost in the fire.

…or useful:

• They made a fire in their fireplace to keep warm.
• The kids sat around the fire and sang songs all night when they were at summer camp.
• The farmers use fire to clear out brush and unwanted trees.

When "fire" is used as a verb, it has a few different meanings.

• He’s firing a rocket.
• Fire up your car and let’s hear how it sounds. (fire up = start)
• Several gun shots were fired into the air by the police.
• The soldier fired his weapon at an enemy soldier.
• The team is all fired up to win tonight. (In this sentence "fired up" is in the form of an idiom and it’s an adjective. To be fired up is to be excited or happy about something.)

You can also use "fire" when someone loses a job:

• She was fired from her job because she often came to work late.
• The company fired two employees who were stealing money from the cash register.
• Joe doesn’t care if he’s fired from his job because he hates it.

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Published on March 6, 2012.