资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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      (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.