fire

«fire» in Mova's school dictionary: The flames, heat and light made when something burns — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (fire, fires); verb (fire, fires, fired, firing)

meaning for a pupil

1) The flames, heat and light made when something burns. tree →

2) A burning that destroys something: "a house fire", "a forest fire". tree →

3) A small fire made on purpose for warmth or cooking: "a campfire". tree →

4) As a verb, to shoot a gun or launch something: "fire a rocket". tree →

5) As a verb, to tell someone they no longer have their job. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, fire needs three things: heat, fuel and oxygen (the fire triangle); take one away and the fire goes out. In safety: never play with matches or lighters; if there is a fire, get out, stay out and call 911 / 999 / 000 / 111 / 112; stop, drop and roll if clothes catch fire; crawl low under smoke. Phrases: on fire, catch fire, set fire to, fire alarm, fire drill, fire engine, firefighter, open fire.

examples

• We sat by the fire to keep warm. tree →
• Fire needs oxygen to burn. tree →
• If there is a fire, get out and stay out. tree →
• The forest fire burned for days. tree →
• Never play with matches; they can start a fire. tree →
• The fire alarm rang during the fire drill. tree →
• If your clothes catch fire, stop, drop and roll. tree →
• The firefighters put out the fire with water. tree →
• Old man, take away that fire!” tree →

note

"A fire" is countable; "fire" in general is uncountable. Do not use water on an oil or electrical fire. Emergency numbers: 911 (USA, Canada), 999 or 112 (UK, Ireland), 000 (Australia), 111 (New Zealand). Smoke is often more dangerous than flames.

In the corpora

• The news on TV, the radio and phones shows real things: wars, earthquakes, floods, fires and accidents.
• Fire drills work the same way: when you have practised, your body knows the steps even when your heart is racing.
• No real animal breathes fire; the bombardier beetle sprays a nearly boiling chemical mix from a tough chamber at attackers.
• Back home, a coal slips in the fire and the Rat wakes up.
• Full and warm by the fire, the friends chat, and Badger asks how old Toad is getting on.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «fire» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.