balefire
Americannoun
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a large fire in the open air; bonfire.
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a signal fire; beacon.
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the fire of a funeral pile.
noun
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a bonfire
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a beacon fire
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a funeral pyre
Etymology
Origin of balefire
1250–1300; Middle English bal ( e ) fir, equivalent to bale (< Old Norse bāl funeral pyre) + fire fire; replacing Old English bǣlfȳr
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This word was the last which the wise old man harbored in heart ere hot death-waves of balefire he chose.
From Beowulf by Gummere, Francis Barton
Nay, even such a birth hath Venus of her own, a second Paris, another balefire for Troy towers reborn.'
From The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil
From Aeschere old, loyal councillor, life was gone; nor might they e’en, when morning broke, those Danish people, their death-done comrade burn with brands, on balefire lay the man they mourned.
From Beowulf by Gummere, Francis Barton
A single window in the wing gleamed like a balefire in the rays of the setting sun.
From Shapes that Haunt the Dusk by Howells, William Dean
Up to the window the company crowded, and they could see the balefire blazing hotly against the cool light of the moon and the widely sprinkled stars.
From John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn by Munro, Neil
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
