bonfire
pronunciation
How to pronounce bonfire in British English:
UK [ˈbɒnfaɪə(r)]
How to pronounce bonfire in American English:
US [ˈbɑːnfaɪər]
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- Noun:
- a large outdoor fire
Word Origin
- bonfire
- bonfire: [14] A bonfire was originally a fire in which bones were burned. References to such (presumably rather evil-smelling) fires, which were large open air affairs, continue down to the 18th century, but latterly they have a distinctly antiquarian air, as if such things were a thing of the past. By the later 15th century the word was already passing to the more general modern meaning ‘large outdoor fire’, either celebratory (as in Bonfire Night, 5 November) or for destroying refuse.=> bone
- bonfire (n.)
- 1550s, from Middle English banefire (late 15c.), originally a fire in which bones were burned. See bone (n.) + fire (n.).
Example
- 1. 3so A bonfire is basically a tree running in reverse .
- 2. Raked leaves burn on a bonfire in the garden below .
- 3. Yet a bonfire of regulations would smoulder rather than blaze .
- 4. Images are created in a similar way that sparklers can draw shapes on bonfire night .
- 5. When a love affair ends , the once treasured mementos of lost romance are often consigned to the dustbin or a bonfire .