fires
plural of “fire” — the event of something burning (often destructive)
An inflected form of fire · plural.
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,984 of 86,757 words measured. It occurs 44,037 times across 426,181 published chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.
What it means
noun
- the event of something burning (often destructive) they lost everything in the fire
- the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy also: firing hold your fire until you can see the whites of their eyesthey retreated in the face of withering enemy fire
- the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and (often) smoke also: flame, flaming fire was one of our ancestors' first discoveries
- a fireplace in which a relatively small fire is burning they sat by the fire and talked
- once thought to be one of four elements composing the universe
- feelings of great warmth and intensity also: ardor, ardour, fervor, fervour, fervency, fervidness he spoke with great ardor
fires in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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In fact, one or two serious subsidiary fires had only been checked with the utmost difficulty.
The Incendiary: A Story of Mystery · William Augustine Leahy · Chapter 1
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Shall I remain shut up at Sambor with The fires of boundless longing in my breast?
Demetrius: A Play · Friedrich Schiller · Chapter 1
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Fires were kindled on cold hearths, tables spread as if by magic, and warm clothes wrapped round shivering limbs.
The Louisa Alcott Reader · Louisa May Alcott · Chapter 1
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In the camp he was happy if he could do some service--he would chop wood, build fires, and cook.
Strange stories of the Civil War · Robert Shackleton · Chapter 1
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I rose, and walked about a while, watching the long line of fires upon the heights beyond the village of Cheverino.
How The Redoubt Was Taken: 1896 · Prosper Mérimée · Chapter 1