English

Alternative forms

• fire eater
• fireeater

Noun

fire-eater ‎(plural fire-eaters)

1. A performer who pretends to swallow fire.
2. (figuratively) A quarrelsome or belligerent person.
3. (US, historical) An extreme partisan for the South before the US Civil War.
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 103:

     Frustrated in their attempts to change the law, fire-eaters turned their efforts to breaking it.

Translations

Related terms

• fire-eating