Word.ws English Dictionary

firedamp

firedamp noun: a flammable gas (mostly methane) found in coal mines; forms an explosive mixture with air.

Noun

firedamp (usually uncountable, plural firedamps)

  1. (usually) A flammable gas (mostly methane) found in coal mines; forms an explosive mixture with air.

Forms of firedamp

pluralfiredamps
alternative formfire damp
alternative formfire-damp

Origin of firedamp

From fire + damp with 'damp' not in the usual sense of 'moist' but old German, modern Dutch, Danish 'damp' as steam or vapour, hence a gas liable to catch fire.

Words formed from firedamp

  • firedamp alarm
  • firedamp detector
  • firedamp drainage
  • firedamp explosion
  • firedamp fringe
  • firedamp layer
  • firedamp migration

Questions about firedamp

What does firedamp mean?
Firedamp means a flammable gas (mostly methane) found in coal mines; forms an explosive mixture with air.
What part of speech is firedamp?
Firedamp is a noun.
What is the plural of firedamp?
The plural of firedamp is firedamps.

Words near firedamp in the dictionary

  1. fired off
  2. fired on all cylinders
  3. fired out
  4. fired the starting gun
  5. fired up
  6. firedamp
  7. firedamper
  8. firedampers
  9. firedamps
  10. firedevil
  11. firedevils

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: firedamp (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:

Cite this entry: “firedamp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/firedamp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.