fireball

English

Nuclear fireball - definitions 1 or 2

Etymology

fire +‎ ball

Noun

fireball (plural fireballs)

1. A ball of fire, especially one associated with an explosion.
2. (astronomy) A meteor bright enough to cast shadows.
   • 2003, Trevor Palmer, ‎Paul D. Taylor, ‎Robert N. Brandon, Perilous Planet Earth: Catastrophes and Catastrophism Through the Ages, →ISBN:

     In January 1999, a fireball exploded over Alaska.

   • 2005, Surendra Verma, The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball, →ISBN, page 234:

     Moments later a second satellite records a fireball exploding in the clouded sky.

3. A class of sailing dinghy with a single trapeze and a symmetrical spinnaker, sailed by a crew of two.
4. (heraldry) A charge made of a disc-shaped bomb shell, with four sets of flames, at the top, bottom and on either side.
5. (military, historical) A ball filled with combustibles to be thrown among enemies.

Derived terms

• fireballer

Translations

a ball of fire

• Arabic: كُرَة نَارِيَّة f (kura nāriyya)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: ildkugle c, kuglelyn n
• Dutch: vuurbol (nl) m
• Esperanto: fajropilko
• Finnish: tulipallo (fi)
• French: boule de feu (fr) f
• German: Feuerball (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hawaiian: pōpōahi
• Hungarian: tűzgolyó (hu)
• Japanese: 火球 (かきゅう, kakyū)
• Latin: igneus nōdus m
• Portuguese: bola de fogo f
• Romanian: minge de foc f
• Russian: о́гненный шар m (ógnennyj šar)
• Tagalog: pabilog na apoy
• Thai: ลูกไฟ (lûuk-fai)
• Volapük: filaglöp

an explosion that results in a fireball

• Danish: ildkugle c
• Finnish: tulipallo (fi)
• German: Feuerball (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 火球 (かきゅう, kakyū)
• Portuguese: bola de fogo f
• Volapük: filaglöp

a meteor bright enough to cast shadows

• Bulgarian: метеор m (meteor)
• Danish: meteor (da) c
• Finnish: bolidi (fi), tulipallo (fi)
• French: bolide (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Feuerball (de) m
• Japanese: 火球 (かきゅう, kakyū)
• Russian: боли́д (ru) m (bolíd)
• Volapük: filaglöp meteorik

a class of sailing dinghy

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} palla di fuoco f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Verb

fireball (third-person singular simple present fireballs, present participle fireballing, simple past and past participle fireballed)

1. (intransitive) To explode in a ball of flame.

   The car swerved off a road, hit a wall, and fireballed as the petrol tank exploded.

2. (baseball) To pitch the ball very fast.
3. (transitive, fantasy) To attack with balls of fire.

See also

• comet
• meteorite