Word.ws English Dictionary

build a fire under

build a fire under is the alternative form of light a fire under.

Meaning of light a fire under

Verb

light a fire under (third-person singular simple present lights a fire under, present participle lighting a fire under, simple past and past participle lit a fire under)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To motivate or encourage (someone) to start sooner or move faster.
    • Let me see if I can light a fire under the waiter to get our order sooner.

Forms of build a fire under

third-person singular presentbuilds a fire under
present participlebuilding a fire under
past participlebuilt a fire under
pastbuilt a fire under

Questions about build a fire under

What is build a fire under the alternative form of?
Build a fire under is the alternative form of light a fire under.

Words near build a fire under in the dictionary

  1. build
  2. build a better mousetrap
  3. build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door
  4. build a bridge and get over it
  5. build a case
  6. build a fire under
  7. build air castles
  8. build artifact
  9. build artifacts
  10. build bridges
  11. build castles in the air

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: build a fire under (page history and authors); light a fire under (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.

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Cite this entry: “build a fire under.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/build_a_fire_under. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.