smoke-eater

English

Noun

smoke-eater (plural smoke-eaters)

1. Alternative form of smoke eater.
   • 1920, International Fire Fighter, page 23:

     A. H. Strom, the “firemen’s friend,” who has been serving coffee and sandwiches to the smoke-eaters at practically every fire of importance in the last twenty years, also spoke, as did Tommy Allen, Civil War Veteran, and former fireman.

   • 1927, The Express Messenger, page 13:

     In fact, six pieces of apparatus were called out as a result of the second and third alarms and the smoke was so thick that even some of the so-called “smoke-eaters” were overcome in their desperate efforts to check it.

   • 1947, James Stevens, Paul Bunyan’s Bears, Seattle: Frank McCaffrey Publishers, page 111:

     The blaze was yet a fern fire, but it was what the smoke-eaters called a “hot job.”

   • 2001, Kathryn Shay, The Fire Within, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 79:

     In his southern drawl, Fire Chief Chase Talbot addressed the thirty or so smoke-eaters assembled in the academy classroom, the smile on his face warm and affectionate.