bonfire
Syllables: bon·fire/ˈbɒnfaɪəɹ/UK/ˈbɒnfaɪə/
bonfire noun: a large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal.
Noun
bonfire (plural bonfires)
- A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal.
- O thou art a perpetuall triumph, an euerlaſting bonefire light, […]c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]
- Theſe vvith the like diſtaſtures, diuulged among the rude multitude, it vvas a vvorld to ſee the face of this nevv VVorld, for in euery ſtreete Bonfires vvere made, in euery Church bels rung, Ditties vvere ſung at euery meeting, and euery man cryed K. Henry, King Henry, […]1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Edward the Fourth, First King of the House of Yorke, King of England and France, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons...
- Synonyms:
- bale
- 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.
- [A]ll the inhabitauntes confortynge and exhortynge eche other to die, rather than to violate the leage and amitie that they of longe tyme had contynued with the Romaynes, by one hole assent, after that they hadde made sondry great pyles of wode and of other mater to brenne, they layde in it all...1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Faythe or Fidelitie, Called in Latyne Fides whiche is the Fundation of Iustyce”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London...
- I had thought to haue let in ſome of all Profeſſions, that goe the Primroſe way to th'euerlasting Bonfire.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Something like a bonfire (sense 1 or 2) in heat, destructiveness, ferocity, etc.
- And one thing I like in you, novv that you ſee / The bonefire of your Ladies ſtate burnt out, / You give it over, doe you not?1620 (first performance; published 1622), Philip Messenger [i.e., Philip Massinger]; Thomas Dekker, The Virgin Martyr; a Tragedie. […], London: […] B[ernard] A[lsop] and T[homas] F[awcet] for Thomas...
- A fire lit to cremate a dead body; a funeral pyre.
- The bodies which the plague had ſlaine were (O moſt wretched caſe) / Not caried forth to buriall now. For why ſuch ſtore there was / That ſcarce the gates were wyde inough for Coffins forth to paſſe. / So eyther lothly on the ground vnburied did they lie, / Or elſe without ſolemnitie were burnt in...1567, Ovid, “The Seventh Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 90, verso
- Now wil the Chriſtian miſcreants be glad, / Ringing with ioy their ſuperſtitious belles: / And making bonfires for my ouerthrow. / But ere I die thoſe foule Idolaters / Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones, […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- Synonyms:
- bale
Verb
bonfire (third-person singular simple present bonfires, present participle bonfiring, simple past and past participle bonfired)
- To destroy (something) by, or as if by, burning on a bonfire; (more generally) to burn or set alight.
- [L]ike the Christmas joke of snapdragons for children, the very liquor was to be bonfired also, and drank burning.1828 May, “[Review of New Publications.] 96. Nichols’s Progresses of King James I. Parts XIX. and XX. (Concluded from p. 154.)”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and...
- Sir, there are as many public documents as you could put in this room that must be taken out and bonfired, that have cost millions, that must be burned up, unless this provision of the honorable Senator from Illinois is carried.1870 June 20, [James Warren] Nye, “Post Office Appropriation Bill”, in F. & J. Rives and George A. Bailey, editors, The Congressional Globe: […] (United States Senate, 41st Congress, 2nd session)...
- To fire (pottery) using a bonfire.
- The pots are formed by the coiling method and bonfired using palm fronds, grass and sometimes dung.2000, Moira Vincentelli, “Running the Business”, in Women and Ceramics: Gendered Vessels, Manchester; New York, N.Y.: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 195
- In China, where huge figures have been excavated in recent years at Xian, archaeologists surmise that they were probably bonfired lying horizontally in a pit, or possibly handmade bricks were piled over the sculptures to retain heat; the bricks would have been removed from round the figure when the...2002, Susan Peterson, Jan Peterson, “Firing Ceramics”, in Working with Clay, 2nd edition, London: Laurence King Publishing, →ISBN, page 131, column 1
- To start a bonfire in (a place); to light up (a place) with a bonfire.
- They almost carried him [the king] into the palace on their shoulders; and at night the whole town was illuminated and bonfired.1743 November 28 (Gregorian calendar), Horace Walpole, “To Sir Horace Mann”, in The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford: […], volumes I (1735–1748), Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard...
- To make, or celebrate around, a bonfire.
- [W]hen the news of the battle of Lissa came even to our remote quarter of Ireland, we considered it as a triumph for the cause of Protestantism, and illuminated, and bonfired, and had a sermon at church, and kept the Prussian king's birthday, on which my uncle would get drunk, as indeed on any...1844 January–December, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “In which Barry Takes a Near View of Military Glory”, in “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies...
- Seems as if one day we are all bar-b-quing, swimming, jetskiing, bonfiring, and the next thing you know everyone is gone, leaving the house empty (except for the sad pile of damp towels and a refrigerator full of sloppy Jo's).2014 March 27, Joan Rust, “11.7.10: Spangles and Big C-Burgers”, in Anniecat Chronicles, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 131
bonfire meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
bonfire in Hindi
- large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal
- अलाव alāv
bonfire in Tamil
- சொக்கப்பனை, விழவெரி தீ
bonfire in Urdu
- الاؤنی آگ
bonfire in Bengali
- bonfire
- অগ্ন্যুৎসব ôgnutśôb
More languagesFewer languages
- bonfire in Malayalam
- തുറസ്സായ സ്ഥലത്ത് കൂട്ടുന്ന തീ
- bonfire in Kannada
- ಬಯಲುರಿ, ಉತ್ಸವಾಗ್ನಿ, ದೊಡ್ಡ ಉರಿ
- bonfire in Punjabi
- بھانبڑ bhāṉbaṛ
- bonfire in Arabic
- مَشْعَل mašʕal
- bonfire in Thai
- กองไฟ gɔɔng-fai
- bonfire in Vietnamese
- đống lửa, lửa mừng
Examples of bonfire in a sentence
- The bells of all England rang joyously: the gutters ran with ale; and, night after night, the sky five miles round London was reddened by innumerable bonfires.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown...
- [M]any of the women threw down their head-dresses in the middle of his [Thomas Conecte's] sermon, and made a bonfire of them within sight of the pulpit.1711 July 2 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “THURSDAY, June 22, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 98; republished in Alexander...
- And as for ancient history, I think a good share of that could be bonfired.1894, William Hawley Smith, “House-cleaning and History”, in Walks Abroad and Talks about Them, Peoria, Ill.: Educational Press...
- Everything was deliberately taken outside and bonfired; where the house adjoined others it was destroyed, where it stood alone it was given over to the devouring element.1895 July 20, “Chinese Items”, in The Japan Weekly Mail: A Review of Japanese Commerce, Politics, Literature, and Art, volume XXIV, number...
Synonyms of bonfire
Forms of bonfire
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bonfires |
| alternative form (nonstandard) | burnfire |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bonefire |
| alternative form (obsolete) | boanefier |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bonefier |
| alternative form (obsolete) | beane fyre |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bon-fier |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bonfier |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bonfyer |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bone fyre |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bon-fire |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bonfires |
| present participle | bonfiring |
| past participle | bonfired |
| past | bonfired |
Origin of bonfire
PIE word *péh₂wr̥ From Middle English bonnefyre (“a fire in which bones are burnt, bonfire”) [and other forms], by surface analysis, bone + fire. Replaced earlier Middle English bale-fyre, from Old English bǣlfȳr (see balefire). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes that bonfires, originally lit as part of midsummer celebrations, were not generally associated with the burning of bones. However, the first edition of the OED (under the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 1887) stated that “for the annual midsummer ‘banefire’ or ‘bonfire’ in the burgh of Hawick [in Roxburghshire, Scotland], old bones were regularly collected and stored up, down to c. 1800”. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognate with Scots banefire (“bonfire”).
Words formed from bonfire
Phrases with bonfire
Questions about bonfire
- What does bonfire mean?
- Bonfire means a large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal.
- What is bonfire in Hindi?
- Bonfire in Hindi is अलाव (alāv). See Bonfire meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use bonfire in a sentence?
- The bells of all England rang joyously: the gutters ran with ale; and, night after night, the sky five miles round London was reddened by innumerable bonfires.
- What part of speech is bonfire?
- Bonfire can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce bonfire?
- Bonfire is pronounced /ˈbɒnfaɪəɹ/.
- What is the plural of bonfire?
- The plural of bonfire is bonfires.
Words near bonfire in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bonfire (page history and authors); bonfire (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bonfire (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); অগ্ন্যুৎসব (Bengali) (page history and authors); bonfire (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bonfire (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); بھانبڑ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-bonfire.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bonfire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bonfire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.