kindle-fire

Noun

kindle-fire (plural kindle-fires)

1. (idiomatic, obsolete) Something, such as a person or event, that initiates events or incites a response.
   • This is the Whiſperer that ſeparates chief friends, and makes thoſe that have drunk of our Cup, to lift up the heel upon us; and with whom we have taken ſweet counſel together, to plot our ruine, and give counfel gainſt our very life. In a word, ſuch a kindle-fire ſin is, that the flames it...1662, William Gurnall, chapter XXV, in Christian in Compleat Armour, volume 3, section 4, page 218
   • And now there reſted nothing, for the general Quieting of the Kingdom, but only the Suppreſſion of Malcolm King of Scots, the greateſt Kindle-fire of all theſe Conſpiracies in the North Parts, and the only Refuge for all that were diſcontented and mutinous in this State.1693, Sir Walter Raleigh, “A Breviary of the Hiſtory of England; Beginning at the Reign of King William the Iſt, Entitled the Conqueror”, in The Works of Sir Walter Raleigh, Kt., section 24, London...

   Synonyms:

   incitement, instigation, spark, trigger, inciter, instigator, kindle-coal