fire clubn.
/ˈfʌɪə klʌb/, U.S. /ˈfaɪ(ə)r kləb/ Now historical and rare.
1. A firework or incendiary weapon consisting of a club or baton with a head of flammable or explosive material. Also simply: a flaming club.
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the world > matter > light > firework > [noun] > types of
fire sword1482
firedrake1608
fiend1634
fire club1634
fire lance1634
fire-target1634
saucisson1634
fire-trunk1639
runner1647
fire pole1708
fire fountain1729
fire-flyer1740
line-rocket1740
devil1742
fire tree1749
Grecian fire1774
jet1774
fire pan1799
metamorphose1818
Saxon1839
lightning paper1866
asteroid1875
brilliant1875
pearl1884
1634 J. Bate Myst. Nature & Art ii. 92 (heading) The description and making of two sorts of Fire-clubs.
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed ii. vi. 202 In the Head of this Mastiffe-Regiment, Marches a body of Musketteirs, who do good service with their fire-clubs.
1796 J. Ebers New & Compl. Dict. German & Eng. Lang. I. 880/2 Feuerkeule, die, a wooden Club, whose hollow Head is filled with a Composition of Gun-Powder, Brimstone, Salpeter &c. a Fire-Club (in Artillery).
1903 J. Strutt's Sports & Pastimes of People of Eng. (new ed.) iv. iii. 299 At the bottom of the thirty-seventh plate is one of the Green Men flourishing his fire club.
1986 Sunday Mail (Queensland) (Nexis) 21 Sept. Londoners Chris and Alex specialise in juggling suitcases, wine bottles and fire clubs while riding unicycles.
2014 io9 (Nexis) 7 July The job of this performer was to head processions carrying ‘fire clubs’ and scattering ‘fireworks’ to clear the way, although the reference to fireworks may have meant only sparks.
2. U.S. An association of volunteer firefighters. Now historical.
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society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > types of association, society, or organization > [noun] > club > types of club
penny club1631
country club1679
soaking club1694
fire clubc1744
tea-circle1834
student union1843
Boys' Club1855
house club1893
tennis club1894
service club1898
book club1904
Darby and Joan club1942
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > coldness > extinguishing fire > [noun] > fire-fighting > fireman > a club of firemen
fire clubc1744
c1744 in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1903) XXXIX. 5 We, the subscribers, members of the Old Fire Club..do agree to the following articles.
1750 (single sheet) (title) The Hand-in-Hand Fire Club.
1760 (single sheet) (title) Rules and Orders to be observed by the York Fire-Club, instituted in Boston the first Day of May, A.D. 1760.
1826 C. Cushing Hist. Newburyport Pref. The fire-clubs and engine societies [of the town].
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits ix. 153 To carry the boisterous dulness of a fire-club into a polite circle.
2006 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 25 Sept. i. 11/1 Since Benjamin Franklin organized a volunteer fire department in Philadelphia in 1736, groups that began as ‘fire clubs’ have attracted the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Paul Revere.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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