Fire-eater

Alternative forms

• fire eater
• fireeater

Full definition of fire-eater

Noun

1. A performer who pretends to swallow fire.
2. (figuratively) A quarrelsome or belligerent person.
3. (US, historical) An extreme partisan for the South before the US Civil War.
• 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 103:Frustrated in their attempts to change the law, fire-eaters turned their efforts to breaking it.

Related terms

• fire-eating