bonfire
IPA: bˈɑnfaɪɝ
noun
- A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal.
- A fire lit outdoors to burn unwanted items; originally (historical), heretics or other offenders, or banned books; now, generally agricultural or garden waste, or rubbish.
- (figuratively) Something like a bonfire (sense 1 or 2) in heat, destructiveness, ferocity, etc.
- (obsolete) A fire lit to cremate a dead body; a funeral pyre.
verb
- (transitive)
- To destroy (something) by, or as if by, burning on a bonfire; (more generally) to burn or set alight.
- (ceramics) To fire (pottery) using a bonfire.
- (obsolete) To start a bonfire in (a place); to light up (a place) with a bonfire.
- (intransitive, rare) To make, or celebrate around, a bonfire.
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Examples of "bonfire" in Sentences
- And he recalled with particular gratitude a certain bonfire in Carcassonne.
- Roasting pies in the sky on a big-ass bonfire is no way to get ahead in life.
- I think she was trying to say blindfold and kept saying the word bonfire instead.
- This financial bonfire is our Reichtag fire, and our real Fuhrer, Paulson, is requesting emergency dictatorial powers to save the nation from nonexistent, unbridled capitalism.
- The proposed reform was part of a Governmentwide drive to sweep away red tape in what was described as a "bonfire of regulations" aimed at stimulating business and economic growth.
- Also, a bonfire is always fun; and here was an excellent excuse for the children to keep one going all day and every day, piling it high with Clem's big bramble-faggots and roasting potatoes (very unevenly) in the intervals.
- Last summer the culture secretary announced swingeing cuts and closures among the 55 public bodies that fall under the remit of the DCMS – which include the Arts Council, Sport England and the British Library – as part of a so-called "bonfire of the quangos".
- Sechseläuten, or, The Snowman Explodes today was Sechseläuten, a traditional zürich festival which supposedly forecasts the type of summer we will have, and how long it will be until we see some damn sun around here again. a huge bonfire is built in the big park at bellevue, with a cotton snowman (the charmingly named 'böögg') perched on top, loaded with fireworks and explosives. the quicker mr böögg explodes and bursts apart, the better our summer wil be. according to today's exploding snowman, the sun will take 17.51 days to get here. i don't know if i can wait that long!
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