fire off

Idioms  

1. Say or write and send away rapidly, as in He fired off three more questions, or She fired off a letter of complaint to the president. This expression originally (from about 1700) was, and still is, used in the sense of “discharge a weapon or ammunition,” as in The police were instructed to fire off canisters of tear gas. The figurative use dates from the late 1800s.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fire off

There must be no prep involved, so they can just show up to the set and fire off some lines, right?

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

That’s all it took for the Seattle Storm’s Flau’jae Johnson to fire off a 27-foot three-point jumper to take the lead.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

An exercise to fire off a howitzer, an artillery weapon, was called off due to an extreme blizzard in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026

Ezekowitz prioritizes teams that take care of the ball and fire off more shots, which is why he likes the Mustangs’ chances more than most if they get through Wednesday’s play-in game.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

They write books and articles deploring it, fire off letters to the editor, and call in to radio talk shows with their criticisms and complaints.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker