Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
.
(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}. (Zo["o]l.) 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 sulphureted hydrogen.
--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}, ardent spirits; -- 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.
Clay \Clay\ (kl[=a]), n. [AS. cl[=ae]g; akin to LG. klei, D.
klei, and perh. to AS. cl[=a]m clay, L. glus, gluten glue,
Gr. gloio`s glutinous substance, E. glue. Cf. {Clog}.]
1. A soft earth, which is plastic, or may be molded with the
hands, consisting of hydrous silicate of aluminium. It is
the result of the wearing down and decomposition, in part,
of rocks containing aluminous minerals, as granite. Lime,
magnesia, oxide of iron, and other ingredients, are often
present as impurities.
2. (Poetry & Script.) Earth in general, as representing the
elementary particles of the human body; hence, the human
body as formed from such particles.
I also am formed out of the clay. --Job xxxiii.
6.
The earth is covered thick with other clay, Which
her own clay shall cover. --Byron.
{Bowlder clay}. See under {Bowlder}.
{Brick clay}, the common clay, containing some iron, and
therefore turning red when burned.
{Clay cold}, cold as clay or earth; lifeless; inanimate.
{Clay ironstone}, an ore of iron consisting of the oxide or
carbonate of iron mixed with clay or sand.
{Clay marl}, a whitish, smooth, chalky clay.
{Clay mill}, a mill for mixing and tempering clay; a pug
mill.
{Clay pit}, a pit where clay is dug.
{Clay slate} (Min.), argillaceous schist; argillite.
{Fatty clays}, clays having a greasy feel; they are chemical
compounds of water, silica, and aluminia, as {halloysite},
{bole}, etc.
{Fire clay}, a variety of clay, entirely free from lime,
iron, or an alkali, and therefore infusible, and used for
fire brick.
{Porcelain clay}, a very pure variety, formed directly from
the decomposition of feldspar, and often called {kaolin}.
{Potter's clay}, a tolerably pure kind, free from iron.