fireback

Noun

fireback (plural firebacks)

1. Any of certain species of pheasant in the genus Lophura.
   • There are several species of the Fireback pheasant, the most common of which is the Siamese, which inhabits parts of Siam.1910, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Cyclopedia of American Agriculture: A Popular Survey of Agricultural Conditions, Practices and Ideals in the United States and Canada (3rd edition), Macmillan, page 581
   • The name fireback comes from this bird's dazzling plumage.2001, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, Endangered Wildlife and Plants of the World, →ISBN, page 551
2. A piece of iron that fits into the back of a fireplace to distribute the heat and keep the brick from cracking.
   • The only condition of the loan is that if the Daughters of the American Revolution are ever disbanded, that the fireback is to be returned to the descendants of General Lincoln.1903, Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, volume 22 (Jan.-June 1903), National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution., page 84
   • Many of the later style fireplaces, most especially of the better class, showed firebacks. These were of iron, and were designed to keep the back of the fireplace from cracking. ... In the Pickering house on Broad Street, Salem, is a quaint fireback which was made in the first iron foundry at...1912, Mary Harrod Northend, Colonial Homes and Their Furnishings, Little, Brown, and Company, page 72