bonfire

== English == === Alternative forms === burnfire (nonstandard) bonefire, boanefier, bonefier, beane fyre, bon-fier, bonfier, bonfyer, bone fyre, bon-fire (obsolete) === Etymology === From Middle English bonnefyre (“a fire in which bones are burnt, bonfire”) [and other forms], by surface analysis, bone +‎ fire. Replaced earlier Middle English bale-fyre, from Old English bǣlfȳr (see balefire). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes that bonfires, originally lit as part of midsummer celebrations, were not generally associated with the burning of bones. However, the first edition of the OED (under the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 1887) stated that “for the annual midsummer ‘banefire’ or ‘bonfire’ in the burgh of Hawick [in Roxburghshire, Scotland], old bones were regularly collected and stored up, down to c. 1800”. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognate with Scots banefire (“bonfire”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈbɒnfaɪəɹ/, [ˈbɒɱˌfaɪ̯ɚ] (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbɒnfaɪə/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbɑnˌfaɪɚ/ (Southern US, African-American Vernacular) IPA(key): [ˈb̥ɒ̃ɱfaɛ̯ɚ] Hyphenation: bon‧fire === Noun === bonfire (plural bonfires) A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal. Synonym: (archaic or obsolete) bale A fire lit outdoors to burn unwanted items; originally (historical), heretics or other offenders, or banned books; now, generally agricultural or garden waste, or rubbish. (figuratively) Something like a bonfire (sense 1 or 2) in heat, destructiveness, ferocity, etc. (obsolete) A fire lit to cremate a dead body; a funeral pyre. Synonym: (archaic) bale ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== balefire === Verb === bonfire (third-person singular simple present bonfires, present participle bonfiring, simple past and past participle bonfired) (transitive) To destroy (something) by, or as if by, burning on a bonfire; (more generally) to burn or set alight. (ceramics) To fire (pottery) using a bonfire. (obsolete) To start a bonfire in (a place); to light up (a place) with a bonfire. (intransitive, rare) To make, or celebrate around, a bonfire. ==== Derived terms ==== bonfiring (noun) ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === bonfire on Wikipedia.Wikipedia bonfire (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia “bonfire”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present. Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “bonfire”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. === Anagrams === be in for