fire-eater

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English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

fire-eater (plural fire-eaters)

  1. A performer who pretends to swallow fire.
  2. (figuratively) A quarrelsome or belligerent person.
    • Burt L. Standish (Gilbert Patten)
      "But he is a regular fire eater!"
      "He's a bad man—a blamed bad man!" fluttered Danny Griswold.
      "That's right," nodded Lewis Little. "He really wants to fight with swords, I believe."
  3. (US, historical) An extreme partisan for the South before the US Civil War.
    • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 103:
      Frustrated in their attempts to change the law, fire-eaters turned their efforts to breaking it.

Related terms[edit]

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