fireman

[fahyuhr-muhn]

noun

plural

firemen 

1. a person employed to extinguish or prevent fires; firefighter.

2. a person employed to tend fires; stoker.

3. Railroads.

   1. a person employed to fire and lubricate a steam locomotive.

   2. a person employed to assist the engineer of a diesel or electric locomotive.

4. U.S. Navy.,  an enlisted person assigned to the care and operation of a ship's machinery.

5. British Mining.,  fire boss.

6. Baseball.,  relief pitcher.

fireman

/ ˈfaɪəmən /

noun

1. Gender-neutral form: firefighter. a man who fights fires, usually a public employee or trained volunteer

2. 1. (on steam locomotives) the man who stokes the fire and controls the injectors feeding water to the boiler

   2. (on diesel and electric locomotives) the driver's assistant

3. a man who tends furnaces; stoker

4. US equivalent: fire boss. Also called: deputy. a mine official responsible for safety precautions

5. navy a junior rating who works on marine engineering equipment

6. informal,  any employee who is dispatched to deal with trouble at short notice

Gender Note

See -man.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fireman¹

1620–30 for sense “gunner”; fire + -man

Example Sentences

“Those corridors fill up with smoke, so now you’re having to do a fireman crawl along the floor for potentially hundreds of feet,” he said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

While the girls spent the night at the neighbors’, Jimmie and I waited until the firemen said it was safe; then we went into our room and saw the mess.

Read more on Literature

Replete with Constructivist angles, it’s an unsentimental account of a woman who tells her fireman husband he isn’t the father of their newborn.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“They call me the fireman,” he said with a laugh.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Once again, he is both arsonist and fireman.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• firefighter