Word.ws English Dictionary

spit fire

spit fire verb: to be extremely angry. Also the nonstandard form of spitfire.

Verb

spit fire (third-person singular simple present spits fire, present participle spitting fire, simple past and past participle spat fire or spit fire)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To be extremely angry.
    • If somebody cuts you off on the highway, don't spit fire—forget about it and arrive at your intended destination in one piece and as relaxed as possible.2008, Nicholas J. Nigro, No Job? No Prob!, →ISBN
    • If Lugh saw that mess, he'd spit fire, I says.2014, Moira Young, Raging Star, →ISBN, page 47
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive, slang) Of the eyes, to flash and reveal strong emotion.
    • Her pretty gray-blue eyes no longer spit fire.2010, Christina Crooks, L.A. Caveman (battle of the sexes, office romance)
    • Her eyes spit fire, but she nodded, if a quick jerk of her head could be called a nod.2012, Karen Kay, War Cloud's Passion, →ISBN, page 141
  3. (idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To speak with vehemence.
    • It would do no good to spit fire at him. He'd only laugh, and then he'd get his own way anyway.2000, B. J. Lawry, Desert Heat, →ISBN, page 87
    • Many look as if butter would not melt in their mouths, and yet can spit fire when it suits their purpose.2006, Charles H. Spurgeon, John Ploughman's Talk: Or, Plain Advice for Plain People, →ISBN, page 123
  4. (idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To perform with skill and energy, especially when reciting poetry or rapping.
    • Her motive is simple — “To spit fire into microphones that she might inspire a generation; to rekindle revolution through the power of revelation."2009, Pamela Best, Of Love, →ISBN
    • We spit fire, drink Coca-Cola, have dance parties, and are Big Brothers and Sisters.2012, Warren Wilson College, →ISBN
  5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see spit, fire.

Noun

spit fire (plural spit fires)

  1. A cooking fire with a spit over it.
    • That's why," he said, holding up his knife so they could see it gleam in the light of the spit fire, "cutting with my method actually sharpens my knife.1982, Ted Mancuso, Frank Hill, Kung Fu for Young People: An Introduction to Karate and Kung Fu, →ISBN
    • Karl and the boys snared all sorts of birds to cook on the spit fire — buntings and starlings, wild geese, mallards, and pigeons.2007, Constance Leeds, The Silver Cup, →ISBN, page 17

Also used as

spit fire is also the nonstandard form of spitfire.

Examples of spit fire in a sentence

  • As Angel suspected, May chewed nails and spit fire when the sheriff released her into her stepmother's custody.2015, Lorraine Kennedy, Dark Rider: A Western Native American Romance, page 8:
  • It described her to a tee; from her fiery mane of red hair to her beautiful emerald eyes that spit fire when she was angry or frustrated.2013, Julia Mills, Her Dragon To Slay, →ISBN:
  • Hutchinson, to 'spit fire out of their pulpits,' and even the rout of their allies at Dunbar, though it made their tongues less dangerous, did not make them more smooth.2011, Thomas Hill Green, R. L. Nettleship, Works of Thomas Hill Green, →ISBN, page 332:
  • Honey's was packed, but that didn't always mean you were gonna make a lot of money, 'cause fifty percent of the niggas wanted to see the pussy spit fire for a fucking dollar.2015, T.N. Baker, Sheisty: Triple Crown Collection, →ISBN:

Forms of spit fire

Verb
third-person singular presentspits fire
present participlespitting fire
past participlespat fire
pastspat fire
past participlespit fire
pastspit fire
Noun
pluralspit fires

Words formed from spit fire

Questions about spit fire

What does spit fire mean?
Spit fire means to be extremely angry.
How do you use spit fire in a sentence?
As Angel suspected, May chewed nails and spit fire when the sheriff released her into her stepmother's custody.
What part of speech is spit fire?
Spit fire can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of spit fire?
The past tense of spit fire is spat fire.

Words near spit fire in the dictionary

  1. spit curls
  2. spit engine
  3. spit engines
  4. spit facts
  5. spit feathers
  6. spit fire
  7. spit fires
  8. spit guard
  9. spit guards
  10. spit hood
  11. spit hoods

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spit fire (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-spit fire.wav.

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