fireman
(ˈfaɪəmən)
† 1. One who uses fire-arms; a gunner. Obs.
| 1626 Rawleigh's Ghost 4 The best experienced souldiers or firemen. a 1648 Ld. Herbert Life (1770) 51 Notwith⁓standing all that our Firemen speak against it [archery]. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 181 The cannoneers and firemen were killed. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xxii. 263 The fire Men place themselves at convenient Distances along the skirts of an Hill. |
2. One who attends to a furnace or the fire of a steam-engine.
| 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 53 One or two of these were Firemen that made the fires in the furnaces. 1784 Wedgwood in Phil. Trans. LXXIV. 367 The fire about the oven was..kept as even and steady as possible, by an experienced fireman, under my own inspection. 1849 F. B. Head Stokers & Pokers vii. 62 It [sc. a locomotive] proceeds to the fire-pit, over which it stops. The fireman here opens the door of his furnace. 1885 Manch. Exam. 19 Feb. 4/7 The fireman jumped off..but the driver..and a brakesman..were killed. |
† 3. fig. A ‘fellow of fire’; see fire n. 13 b.
| 1709 Steele Tatler No. 61 ¶1, I had last Night the Fate to drink a Bottle with Two of these Fire-men. |
4. One who is employed to extinguish fires.
| 1714 Gay Trivia iii. 362 The Fire-man sweats beneath his crooked Arms. 1766 Entick London IV. 262 This office keeps in its service 30 fire-men. 1855 O. W. Holmes Poems 140, I asked the firemen why they made Such noise about the town. |
5. Mining. One whose duty it is to examine the workings of a mine to see that no fire-damp is present, to attend to the blasting, etc.
| 1866 J. Hogg in Intellect. Observer IX. 2 As there was no great quantity [of inflammable air] detected, the ‘fireman’ thought it sufficient precaution to put up a ‘danger-signal’. 1885 Law Times LXXIX. 119/2 The fireman should not allow any shot to be fired without seeing the charge put in, and without first carefully examining the place. |
6. Comb., as fireman-waterman.
| 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Tales vii, ‘Did you want to be put on board a steamer, sir?’ inquired an old fireman-waterman. |
Hence ˈfiremanship (nonce-wd.), the craft or function of a fireman.
| 1874 Daily News 17 Mar. 5 The amateur firemanship of a nobleman. 1881 M. Reynolds Engine-driving Life 66 Now is the time for the display of good enginemanship,—ah! and good firemanship. |