Word.ws English Dictionary

firing on all cylinders

firing on all cylinders is the present participle and gerund of fire on all cylinders.

Meaning of fire on all cylinders

Verb

fire on all cylinders (third-person singular simple present fires on all cylinders, present participle firing on all cylinders, simple past and past participle fired on all cylinders)

  1. (idiomatic) To operate as effectively as possible.
    • The performance was a sign of real intent for Arsenal as they continue their pursuit for silverware on four fronts - and with Van Persie firing on all cylinders, the odds look good on them winning a first trophy since 2005.2011 January 22, Ian Hughes, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2021
    Synonyms:
    hit on all six

Questions about firing on all cylinders

What is firing on all cylinders the present participle and gerund of?
Firing on all cylinders is the present participle and gerund of fire on all cylinders.

Words near firing on all cylinders in the dictionary

  1. firing iron
  2. firing irons
  3. firing line
  4. firing lines
  5. firing off
  6. firing on all cylinders
  7. firing out
  8. firing parties
  9. firing party
  10. firing pin
  11. firing pins

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: firing on all cylinders (page history and authors); fire on all cylinders (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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