boutefeu

English

Alternative forms

• boutè-feu

Etymology

Borrowed from French boutefeu, from bouter (“to thrust, put”) + feu (“fire”).

Noun

boutefeu (plural boutefeus)

1. (obsolete) An incendiary; an inciter of quarrels.
   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

     Animated by […] John a Chamber, a very boutefeu, […] they entered into open rebellion.

   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

     But we, who only do infuse / The rage in them like boutè-feus, / 'Tis our example that instils / In them th' infection of our ills.

Translations

an incendiary, inciter

• Russian: поджига́тель (ru) m (podžigátelʹ), подстрека́тель (ru) m (podstrekátelʹ)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “boutefeu”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

French

Alternative forms

• boute-feu

Etymology

From bouter le feu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /but.fø/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

boutefeu m (plural boutefeux)

1. linstock (stick for lighting cannon)
2. (by extension) gunner
3. fire-starter, arsonist
4. (figurative) incendiary, firebrand
   • 1972, Georges Brassens (lyrics and music), “Mourir pour des idées”, in Fernande:

     O vous, les boutefeux, ô vous les bons apôtres / Mourez donc les premiers, nous vous cédons le pas / Mais de grâce, morbleu ! laissez vivre les autres !

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (mining) blaster, shotfirer (person in charge of detonating explosives)

Further reading

• “boutefeu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.