fireman
Syllables: fire·man/ˈfaɪəmən/US/ˈfaɪɹmən/
fireman noun: someone (especially male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire.
Noun
fireman (plural firemen)
- Someone (especially male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire.
- By February 1944 there were over two thousand women employed at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company [...]. There were also female firemen on almost every shipyard crane [...].1993, Nancy F. Cott, editor, History of Women in the United States. Historical Articles on Women's Lives and Activities. 15. Women and War, page 432
- For firemen everywhere rescuing cats from trees has been as much a part of the job as tackling blazing buildings.30 June 2019, Don't call us for cats stuck in trees', Fire Brigade warns (Daily Telegraph)
- Synonyms:
- firefighter, smoke eater
- A person (originally a man) who keeps the fire going underneath a steam boiler (originally, shoveling coal by hand), particularly on a railroad locomotive or steamship.
- He looked around his cab at his black greasy fireman, saying 'shovel on a little more coal, and when we cross that White Oak Mountain, you can watch Old 97 roll'.ca. 1913 The wreck of Old 97 [ballad, Blue Ridge Mountains], verse 3
- No grass grew under a train when the engineer let Fireman McLash take the throttle.1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter IX, in Capricornia, page 140
- An assistant on any locomotive, whether steam-powered or not.
- A relief pitcher (reflecting the figurative analogy of rescuing the situation).
- A safety inspector in coal mines.
Proper noun capitalized: Fireman
Fireman
- A surname.
fireman meaning in Tamil
fireman in Tamil
- தீயணைப்பாளர்
Examples of fireman in a sentence
- The fireman's job was about to get very interesting; they had just run out of coal!
- Rowett, of the North Eastern Region's Neville Hill shed, now joined the locomotive as pilotman, and actually took over the regulator, Fireman Wheddon continuing to fire.1958 December, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 852:
- It is quite rare for a woman to become a fireman.2013 August 24, Sophie Wyllie, quoting Tina Pinney, “Volunteer Tina steams ahead and becomes qualified fireman on North Norfolk Railway”...
- The driver remained at his post, while telling fireman Jim Nightall to get down on the track and run back to uncouple the burning wagon from the rest.2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948:
Synonyms of fireman
Forms of fireman
| plural | firemen |
|---|
Origin of fireman
From fire + -man.
Words formed from fireman
Questions about fireman
- What does fireman mean?
- Fireman means someone (especially male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire.
- What is fireman in Tamil?
- Fireman in Tamil is தீயணைப்பாளர். See Fireman meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use fireman in a sentence?
- The fireman's job was about to get very interesting; they had just run out of coal!
- What part of speech is fireman?
- Fireman can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce fireman?
- Fireman is pronounced /ˈfaɪɹmən/ (US).
- What is the plural of fireman?
- The plural of fireman is firemen.
Words near fireman in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fireman (page history and authors); Fireman (page history and authors); fireman (Tamil Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-fireman.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fireman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fireman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.