fireballs

Noun

fireball (plural fireballs)

1. A ball of fire, especially one associated with an explosion, or (fiction, mythology) thrown as a weapon.
   • He placed his arms in a blocking position, but even so, the fireball threw all three of them, Kylie, Percival, and Kelly, onto the wall.2008, Franklin Newman, “Sleeping with the Enemy”, in The Princess of Flourae (The Knights of Callistor; 2), [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 90
2. (figuratively, informal) A feisty, strong-willed person.
   • But ſure in a family it bodeth moſt bad, vvhen tvvo firebals (huſbands and vvives anger) come both together.1642, Thomas Fuller, “The Good Wife”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book I, paragraph 2, page 2
3. (figuratively) Synonym of fastball (“a high-speed pitch of a baseball”).

   Synonyms:

   fastball

4. A bright glow caused by a spacecraft re-entering an atmosphere.
5. A meteor bright enough to cast shadows; a bolide.
   • [page 1] There ſeem to be three concentric ſtrata of our incumbent atmoſphere; in vvhich, or betvveen them, are produced four kinds of meteors; lightning, ſhooting ſtars, fire-balls, and northern lights. […] [page 2] Dr. [Charles] Blagden has related the hiſtory of another large meteor, or...1791, [Erasmus Darwin], “Additional Notes. Note I.—Meteors.”, in The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, part I (The Economy of Vegetation), pages 1–2

   Synonyms:

   bolis

6. A class of sailing dinghy with a single trapeze and a symmetrical spinnaker, sailed by a crew of two.

See all 17 meanings of fireball