▪ I. fir
(fɜː(r))
Forms: 3–8 firr, 4 fer, south. ve(e)r, 4–5 fyr(re, south. vyrre, 4–7 firre, (6 fire, 7 fyre), 7 fur, 4– fir.
[ME. firr. firre, perh. repr. OE. *fyre or ON. fyri- (in combs. fyriskógr fir-wood, etc.; cf. Da. fyr):—OTeut. *furhjôn- f. *furhâ, forhâ, whence OE. furh(wudu), OHG. forha (MHG. vorhe, Ger. föhre), ON., Norw., Sw. fura. For the formation cf. beech, OE. béce:—*bôkjôn f. bôkâ (Ger. buche).
A form differing in ablaut-grade is OHG. vereh-eih (rare early mod.Ger. ferch), Lombard fereha, all denoting a kind of oak (L. æsculus). The L. quercus oak is doubtless cognate.]
1. The name given to a number of coniferous trees, of different genera. Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris), a native of Arctic Europe and Asia; perhaps indigenous in a few spots of northern Britain; called also Scotch Pine. silver fir (Abies pectinata), a native of the mountainous parts of middle and southern Europe; so called from its whiteness under the leaves. silver fir of Canada (Abies balsamea), a small tree which furnishes ‘Canada balsam.’ spruce fir (Picea excelsa), a native of northern and mountainous central Europe; called also Norway Spruce.
(The first quot. is doubtful: the word may be far.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11501 (Gött.) [Rekels]..es a gum þat cummes of firr. c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 179 The sayling firr. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. iv. (Tollem. MS), Veer [1535 Fer] is a tre þat streccheþ in lengþe upwarde. a 1490 Botoner Itin. (1778) 175 Arbores et mastys de vyrre cum anchoris jacent. 1530 Palsgr. 220/2 Fyrre a tree, sappin. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 9 The firre that weepeth still. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia i. 19 The rocky clifts..overgrown with Firre. 1713 C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 188 The silver Firr dotes on the stately Pine. 1777 Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 47 Spruce fir, Scotch fir, Silver fir, Weymouth fir. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxviii. 446 Silver Fir is so named from the whiteness of the leaves underneath. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 267 ‘As a nurse’..‘no other tree equals the Scotch fir.’ 1877 Bryant Odyss. v. 290 Firs that reach the clouds. |
2. a. The wood of any of these trees.
fir-in-bond, ‘a name given to lintels, bond-timbers, wall-plates, and indeed all timbers built in walls’ (1846 Buchanan
Technol. Dict.).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxi. (1495) 684 The ver rotyth anone vnder erthe. 1611 Bible 1 Kings vi. 15 Hee..couered the floore of the house with plankes of firre. 1677 A. Yarranton Engl. Improv. 69 Many Cities are built of Fir. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 261 The fir which is mostly used in carpentry is distinguished by the name of Memel Fir. |
b. Sc. = candle-fir: see
candle n. 7.
| 1813 W. Beattie Entertain. & Instruct. Tales i. 31 Pate..but-a-house dare hardly look, But had, and snuff the fir. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib.: (sense 1), as
fir-bark,
fir-clump,
fir-cone (hence
fir-coning,
nonce-wd.),
fir-green,
fir-plantation,
fir-seed,
fir-top,
fir-wood; (sense 2), as
fir-lathing,
fir-plank,
fir-pole,
fir-timber;
b. instrumental or parasynthetic, as
fir-bordered,
fir-built,
fir-scented,
fir-topped adjs.| 1840 Mrs. Norton Dream 2 The changeful beams still play'd On the *fir-bark. |
| 1891 Daily News 7 Sept. 2/1 Along the *fir-bordered road. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Fir⁓built, constructed of fir. |
| 1842 Faber Styrian Lake 356 Groupes of birch..Rise up..Among the *fir-clumps dark. |
| 1818 Keats Endym. i. 256 Oak-apples, and *fir-cones brown. |
| 1819 Miss Mitford in Life (1870) II. 56, I like it [reading]..better than *fir-coning—better than violeting. |
| 1884 Girl's Own Paper 29 Nov. 136/1 The newest greens are called cresson and ‘*fir-green’. |
| 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 84/1 Webbing made of reed and used in substitution of *fir-lathing. |
| 1855 H. Clarke Dict. s.v. Fir, *Fir-plank. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 61 The dark verdure of the *fir-plantations. |
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 177 The Pole is commonly made of a *Fir-pole. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 223 Fir-poles, small trunks of fir⁓trees. |
| 1880 Ouida Moths II. 384 He was thinking of green, cool, dusky, *fir-scented Ischl. |
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 196 *Fir-seeds. |
| 1858 Skyring's Builders' Prices 62 Memel and all other *fir timbers. |
| 1855 Kingsley Heroes ii. 212 Upon the *fir-tops hung the bones of murdered men. |
| 1886 Pall Mall G. 28 Aug. 3/2 The *fir-topped hill that shuts out the view of the lake. |
| c 1540 Leland Itin. vii. (1744) 22 Ther be founde in Morisch and Mossy Grounde..*Fyr⁓woodde Rootes. 1611 Bible 2 Sam. vi. 5 Instruments made of Firre-wood. 1877 Black Green Past. ii. (1878) 12 That distant line of firwood on the horizon. |
4. Special comb.: as
fir-apple,
-ball, the fruit of the fir-tree; a fir-cone;
fir balsam, the silver fir of Canada,
Abies balsamea;
† fir-beech, the lime or linden tree (L.
tilia);
fir-bob = fir-apple;
fir-brush (see
quot.);
fir-candle = fir 2 b;
fir-cedar (see
quot.);
fir club-moss = fir-moss;
fir-deal, a deal or plank of fir; also, fir-wood cut in planks;
fir-marigold (see
quot.);
fir-moss (see
quot.);
fir-needle (see
quot.);
fir-pine = 1;
fir-rape, a parasitic plant on roots of fir and beech (
Hypopithys multiflora);
fir-spell dial. = fir 2 b (in
quot. referring to fir-roots so used). Also
fir-tree.
| 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 147 The Fir-Tree..bears a scaly Fruit of a piramidal Figure, call'd the *Fir-Apple. |
| 1878 Britten & Holland Plant-n. 184 Fir Apple..*Fir Balls..Fir-bob. |
| 1810 Michaux Arbres I. 18 Sylvir fir,..*Fir balsam,..[ou] Balsam of Gilead tree. 1899 S. O. Jewett Queen's Twin 16 Fir balsams comin' up over the hill all green an' hearty. |
| 1854 Househ. Words. IX. 327/2 The fire was always in that state when somebody had..to unload his pockets of fir-bobs, which..threw beautiful dancing lights. |
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 101 b, The Fyrre, the Oke, the Chestnutte, the *Fyrrebeeche. |
| 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., *Fir-brushes, the needle-foliage of fir trees. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 179 The great Cedar, called by the Greeks Cedrelate, as one would say, the *Fir-Cedre, yeeldeth a certain pitch or parrosin named Cedria. |
| 1855 Miss Pratt Ferns 138 Order Lycopodiaceæ, L. Selago (*Fir Club-moss, Upright Fir-moss). 1450, 1558, 1604, 1618 *Fir-deal [see deal n.3 1, 1 b]. |
| 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. ix. 308 The *fir⁓marigold [mesembryanthemum] was expanding its radiated crowns over thousands of acres. |
| 1879 Prior Plant-n. 80 *Fir-moss, a mossy looking plant like a little fir-tree, Lycopodium Selago. |
| 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., *Fir-needles, the leaves of the Scotch Fir. |
| 1843 Marryat M. Violet xxxv. 290 The *fir-pines..told us that we had reached the highest point of the hills. |
| 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 384 Order Monotropeæ..(Yellow Bird's-nest)..called also *Fir-rape. 1884 Evangelical Mag. Feb. 60 The Fir-Rape..grows at the foot of beech and fir trees. |
| 1697 Phil. Trans. XIX. 382 Examine the *Fir-spells, as they call them, who are brought up the River Ouse by the Turff-men and sold at York. |
▪ II. fir var. form of
fur.