fire

英 ['faɪə]美 [faɪr]
  • n. 火；火灾；炮火；炉火；热情；激情；磨难
  • vt. 点燃；解雇；开除；使发光；烧制；激动；放枪
  • vi. 着火；射击；开枪；激动；烧火
CET4 TEM4 考研 CET6 中低频词 基本词汇

中文词源

fire 火

来自PIE*paewr, 火，词源同pyre,empyrean. 该词在印欧语用来指无生命之火，而PIE*egni则用来指有生命之火，词源同ignite.

英文词源

fire
fire: [OE] Appropriately enough for one of the mainsprings of human civilization, the word fire is widespread amongst Indo-European languages (although it is only one of two competing ‘fire’ strands, the other being represented in English by ignite). Among its relatives are Greek pur (whence English pyre, pyrotechnic, and, by a very circuitous route, bureau), Czech pýr ‘embers’, Armenian hūr, and Hittite pahhur, pointing back to a prehistoric Indo-European *pūr. Its Germanic descendant was *fūir, from which came German feuer, Dutch vuur, and English fire.
=> bureau, pyre, pyrotechnic
fire (n.)
Old English fyr "fire, a fire," from Proto-Germanic *fur-i- (cognates: Old Saxon fiur, Old Frisian fiur, Old Norse fürr, Middle Dutch and Dutch vuur, Old High German fiur, German Feuer "fire"), from PIE *perjos, from root *paəwr- "fire" (cognates: Armenian hur "fire, torch," Czech pyr "hot ashes," Greek pyr, Umbrian pir, Sanskrit pu, Hittite pahhur "fire"). Current spelling is attested as early as 1200, but did not fully displace Middle English fier (preserved in fiery) until c. 1600.

PIE apparently had two roots for fire: *paewr- and *egni- (source of Latin ignis). The former was "inanimate," referring to fire as a substance, and the latter was "animate," referring to it as a living force (compare water (n.1)).
Brend child fuir fordredeþ ["The Proverbs of Hendyng," c. 1250]
English fire was applied to "ardent, burning" passions or feelings from mid-14c. Meaning "discharge of firearms, action of guns, etc." is from 1580s. To be on fire is from c. 1500 (in fire attested from c. 1400, as is on a flame "on fire"). To play with fire in the figurative sense "risk disaster, meddle carelessly or ignorantly with a dangerous matter" is by 1861, from the common warning to children. Phrase where's the fire?, said to one in an obvious hurry, is by 1917, American English.

Fire-bell is from 1620s; fire-alarm as a self-acting, mechanical device is from 1808 as a theoretical creation; practical versions began to appear in the early 1830s. Fire-escape (n.) is from 1788 (the original so-called was a sort of rope-ladder disguised as a small settee); fire-extinguisher is from 1826. A fire-bucket (1580s) carries water to a fire. Fire-house is from 1899; fire-hall from 1867, fire-station from 1828. Fire company "men for managing a fire-engine" is from 1744, American English. Fire brigade "firefighters organized in a body in a particular place" is from 1838. Fire department, usually a branch of local government, is from 1805. Fire-chief is from 1877; fire-ranger from 1909.

Symbolic fire and the sword is by c. 1600 (translating Latin flamma ferroque absumi); earlier yron and fyre (1560s), with suerd & flawme (mid-15c.), mid fure & mid here ("with fire and armed force"), c. 1200. Fire-breathing is from 1590s. To set the river on fire, "accomplish something surprising or remarkable" (usually with a negative and said of one considered foolish or incompetent) is by 1830, often with the name of a river, varying according to locality, but the original is set the Thames on fire (1796). The hypothetical feat was mentioned as the type of something impossibly difficult by 1720; it circulated as a theoretical possibility under some current models of chemistry c. 1792-95, which may have contributed to the rise of the expression.
[A]mong other fanciful modes of demonstrating the practicability of conducting the gas wherever it might be required, he anchored a small boat in the stream about 50 yards from the shore, to which he conveyed a pipe, having the end turned up so as to rise above the water, and forcing the gas through the pipe, lighted it just above the surface, observing to his friends "that he had now set the river on fire." ["On the Origins and Progress of Gas-lighting," in "Repertory of Patent Inventions," vol. III, London, 1827]
fire (v.)
c. 1200, furen, "arouse, enflame, excite" (a figurative use); literal sense of "set fire to" is attested from late 14c., from fire (n.). The Old English verb fyrian "to supply with fire" apparently did not survive into Middle English. Related: Fired; firing.

Meaning "expose to the effects of heat or fire" (of bricks, pottery, etc.) is from 1660s. Meaning "to discharge artillery or a firearm" (originally by application of fire) is from 1520s; extended sense of "to throw (as a missile)" is from 1580s. Fire away in the figurative sense of "go ahead" is from 1775.

The sense of "sack, dismiss from employment" is recorded by 1885 (with out; 1887 alone) in American English. This probably is a play on the two meanings of discharge (v.): "to dismiss from a position," and "to fire a gun," influenced by the earlier general sense "throw (someone) out" of some place (1871). To fire out "drive out by or as if by fire" (1520s) is in Shakespeare and Chapman. Fired up "angry" is from 1824 (to fire up "become angry" is from 1798).

双语例句

1. He said they should turn their fire on the Conservative Party instead.
他说他们应该掉转枪口，向保守党开火。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The council recently drew fire for its intervention in the dispute.
委员会最近因为介入该起争端而遭到批评。
来自柯林斯例句
3. If something's a sure-fire hit then Radio One will play it.
如果哪首歌一定会火，那么第一频道肯定会播出。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Legs of pork were cured and smoked over the fire.
在火上熏制猪腿。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Don't leave a child alone in a room with an open fire.
房间里有裸露的明火时，不要让孩子独处其中。
来自柯林斯例句