fireball

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English

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WOTD – 13 August 2024

Etymology

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A fireball (sense 1) created in nuclear weapon testing during Operation Upshot–Knothole at the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, U.S.A., on April 18, 1953.
The Chelyabinsk meteor, a fireball (sense 4) or superbolide which entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia on 15 February 2013.
A fireball dinghy (sense 5).
A fireball (sense 6.1) as a heraldic charge.

The noun is derived from fire (noun) +‎ ball (noun).[1] The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fireball (plural fireballs)

  2. A ball of fire, especially one associated with an explosion, or (fiction, mythology) thrown as a weapon.
    • 2008, Franklin Newman, “Sleeping with the Enemy”, in The Princess of Flourae (The Knights of Callistor; 2), [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 90:
      He placed his arms in a blocking position, but even so, the fireball threw all three of them, Kylie, Percival, and Kelly, onto the wall.
    • 2011, Nick Bracken, Sue Black, “King’s Cross Underground Fire, November 18, 1987”, in Sue Black, G. Sunderland, Lucina Hackman, Xanthé Mallet, editors, Disaster Victim Identification: Experience and Practice (Global Perspectives on Disaster Victim Identification Series), Boca Raton, Fla.; London: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 65:
      At 7:45 p.m. there was a sudden “whooshing” noise, and a mercilessly intense fireball exploded from under the escalator, ballooned up into the ticket hall and ignited all combustible material in the area. As a result of the flashover of the fireball, the temperature rose by several hundred degrees in a matter of seconds, and it was believed that it reached 600°C with zero visibility.
    • 2014 October, Don Pendleton [pseudonym], chapter 14, in Maximum Chaos (A Gold Eagle Book; The Executioner; 431), Don Mills, Ont.: Worldwide Library, →ISBN, page 121:
      In a moment, he was caught by the blast. He threw up his arms to cover his head as the surge of energy created by the fireball threw him aside.
    • 2021 March 14, Drachinifel [pseudonym], 1:05:17 from the start, in The Drydock – Episode 137‎[1], archived from the original on 2022-11-08:
      At the time of this photo, Royal Marine Gunner Bryan Gasson is pretty much dead centre in this photo, and yes, that means he is literally inside that socking great fireball as the magazines detonate.
  3. (figurative)
    1. (informal) A feisty, strong-willed person.
      • 1642, Thomas Fuller, “The Good Wife”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book I, paragraph 2, page 2:
        But ſure in a family it bodeth moſt bad, vvhen tvvo firebals (huſbands and vvives anger) come both together.
      • 1954 October 3, Dorothy Cooper, “Bud Takes Up the Dance”, in Father Knows Best, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Betty (Rhoda Williams), New York, N.Y.: CBS, →OCLC:
        Her folks have a lot of money. I've never seen her, but she must be quite a fireball.
      • 2022 February 23, Jocelyn Samara D., “Tie the Knot”, in Rain‎[2] (webcomic), archived from the original on 2024-05-08:
        And Lydia's a sassy little fireball. Today's her first day of first grade, and I'm just glad her teacher hasn't had to call.
    2. (baseball) Synonym of fastball (“a high-speed pitch of a baseball”).
  4. (astronautics) A bright glow caused by a spacecraft re-entering an atmosphere.
  6. (astronomy) A meteor bright enough to cast shadows; a bolide.
    Synonym: bolis
    Coordinate terms: comet, meteorite
    • 1791, [Erasmus Darwin], The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, part I (The Economy of Vegetation), pages 1–2:
      [page 1] There ſeem to be three concentric ſtrata of our incumbent atmoſphere; in vvhich, or betvveen them, are produced four kinds of meteors; lightning, ſhooting ſtars, fire-balls, and northern lights. […] [page 2] Dr. [Charles] Blagden has related the hiſtory of another large meteor, or fire-ball, vvhich vvas ſeen the 18th of Auguſt, 1783, vvith many ingenious obſervations and conjectures.
    • 2003, Trevor Palmer, “Catastrophes on Earth”, in Perilous Planet Earth: Catastrophes and Catastrophism through the Ages, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, section C (From 1980 to the Present Day: Catastrophism Strikes Back), page 201:
      In December 1997, a fireball passed eastward before dawn over the southwestern corner of Greenland, and then blew up into at least four fragments. Just five days later, according to reports from Colombia, three fireballs struck Bogotá, one of them causing the death of four children by setting their home ablaze.
    • 2005, Surendra Verma, “A Fireball in the Dinosaurs’ Sky”, in The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball, Thriplow, Cambridgeshire: Icon Books, published 2006, →ISBN, page 234:
      Ninety-four years after the Tunguska fireball. […] A US Air Force spots an object as it enters the atmosphere, but loses track of it as it falls below 30 kilometres. Moments later a second satellite records a fireball exploding in the clouded sky.
  8. (sailing) A class of sailing dinghy with a single trapeze and a symmetrical spinnaker, sailed by a crew of two.
  9. (weaponry, historical) A bag or ball filled with combustible material which is thrown as a weapon or to set something alight.
    • 1609, Ammianus Marcellinus, “[The XXIIII. Booke.] Chapter VII. The Most Strong Assault of the Said Citie. The Painefull Toyle, Industrie, and Fortitude, as well of the Besiegers as Besieged. At Length by Undermining the Walls are Overthrowne..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Roman Historie, […], London: […] Adam Jslip, →OCLC, pages 249–250:
      [T]he ſlingers and archers together, vvith others alſo tumbling dovvne huge ſtones, vvith firebrands and fireballs, ſet them further off.
    2. (heraldry) A charge depicting a disc-shaped bombshell with flames emitted from the top, or sometimes from the top, bottom, and on either side.
  10. (obsolete)
    1. An emanation of St. Elmo's fire; also (later), of ball lightning.
      • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Henrie the Fourth, King of England, and France, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 26, page 616, column 1:
        [T]here vvas ſuch a Tempeſt & thunder vvith great firebals of lightning, that the vault of the church brake, and halfe the Chancell vvas carried avvay.
      • 1642, Thomas Fuller, “The Good Wife”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book I, paragraph 2, page 2:
        It is an obſervation of Seamen, That if a ſingle meteor or fireball falls on their maſt, it portends ill luck; but if tvvo come together (vvhich they count Caſtor and Pollux) they preſage good ſucceſſe: […]
    2. A ball-shaped firelighter (“small block of a flammable substance, typically a combination of sawdust and wax, used to light fires”).
    3. A ball of heat-resistant material placed in a fire to slow down the burning of the fuel.
    4. (figurative) A statement intended to cause dissension or as a provocation.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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fireball (not comparable)

  1. (slang) Excellent, terrific.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:excellent
    Antonyms: see Thesaurus:bad

Translations

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Verb

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

  1. (transitive, fiction, chiefly fantasy, science fiction) To attack (someone or something) with balls of fire.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To explode in a ball of fire or flame.
      The car swerved off a road, hit a wall, and fireballed as the petrol tank exploded.
      • 2022 July 15, Jeré Longman, “‘Sometimes I am crying in the room’”, in The New York Times‎[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-08-07:
        On Feb. 24, [Yaroslava] Mahuchikh (pronounced ma-GU–chi-huh or ma-HU-chick) was startled awake by shuddering booms in Dnipro, her hometown, in east-central Ukraine. Russia had begun its invasion. An explosion, caught on video, fireballed into the dark sky. Dnipro's airport and area military facilities had come under attack.
    2. (figurative) To emerge suddenly; to explode.
      • 2019 March 9, Anthony Slater, “Five Observations from the Warriors’ 122–105 Win over the Nuggets”, in The Athletic‎[4], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, archived from the original on 2024-08-13:
        But the swoon was only brief. [Klay] Thompson scorched his way to 27 first-half points, the Warriors fireballed back into a 17-point lead and a statement half was sealed from the deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep left corner, early in the clock and without a dribble – vintage Klay, vintage Warriors.
    3. (baseball) To pitch a baseball very fast.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “fireball, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “fireball, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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