backfiringn.
1. North American. The action of backfire v. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > [noun] > going or setting on fire > setting on fire or alight > deliberate burning of vegetation > as means of stopping forest fire
back-burning1878
backfiring1889
counter-firing1930
1889 Bellevue (Idaho) Press 14 Sept. 3/2 The process known as ‘back-firing’ was resorted to, which resulted in saving the threatened buildings.
1892 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 10 Oct. 9/3 By back-firing, the people of Hitchcok yesterday saved their town from being destroyed by the great prairie-fire then raging.
1946 Los Angeles Times 9 Sept. 1. 2/4 The blaze was stopped short of the Ridge Route by backfiring.
2. Premature ignition or explosion in an internal-combustion engine.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > engine sound > [noun] > back-fire
backfire1897
backfiring1897
1897 G. D. Hiscox Gas Engines 86 Back-firings in the muffler and exhaust pipe.
1907 Daily Chron. 11 Nov. 7/4 The air enters the working cylinder in advance of the combustible mixture, thus preventing backfiring.
1929 Daily Express 12 Jan. 2 The sound of the report would..have been mistaken for the backfiring of a motor-car.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1889