Word.ws English Dictionary

firehole

firehole noun: an opening fitted with a door, giving access to the firebox of a steam locomotive, through which coal can be shovelled and the fire tended.

Noun

firehole (plural fireholes)

  1. An opening fitted with a door, giving access to the firebox of a steam locomotive, through which coal can be shovelled and the fire tended.
    • The way the glare from our engine firehole pulsated, reflecting continuously in the steam, combined with our achievement in keeping level with the lighter train until our metals parted at Wilton, provided another lasting memory.1955 April, W. J. Alcock, “Unforgettable Moments”, in Railway Magazine, page 271
    • A rolling grate in two sections is fitted; there are two injectors and an A.C.F.I. pump, and the usual firehole door.1961 March, 'Balmore', “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 150

Forms of firehole

pluralfireholes

Origin of firehole

From fire + hole.

Questions about firehole

What does firehole mean?
Firehole means an opening fitted with a door, giving access to the firebox of a steam locomotive, through which coal can be shovelled and the fire tended.
What part of speech is firehole?
Firehole is a noun.
What is the plural of firehole?
The plural of firehole is fireholes.

Words near firehole in the dictionary

  1. firehalls
  2. firehawk
  3. firehawks
  4. firehead tetra
  5. firehead tetras
  6. firehole
  7. fireholes
  8. firehook
  9. firehooks
  10. firehose
  11. firehose cursor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: firehole (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: “firehole.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/firehole. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.