Word.ws English Dictionary

taking fire

taking fire is the present participle and gerund of take fire.

Meaning of take fire

Verb

take fire (third-person singular simple present takes fire, present participle taking fire, simple past took fire, past participle taken fire)

  1. (dated) To catch fire; to begin to burn.
  2. (figuratively) To become excited or enthused about something.
  3. (idiomatic) To be subjected to enemy attack with firearms; to be under fire.
    • The unit was taking fire from the guerrillas.

Questions about taking fire

What is taking fire the present participle and gerund of?
Taking fire is the present participle and gerund of take fire.

Words near taking fire in the dictionary

  1. taking down a notch
  2. taking down a peg
  3. taking easy
  4. taking effect
  5. taking exception
  6. taking fire
  7. taking five
  8. taking flight
  9. taking for
  10. taking for a drive
  11. taking for a ride

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taking fire (page history and authors); take 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.

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