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.

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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

Now they fire off messages from their phones and computers day and night.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

Jerry Stiller was protective of his son’s showbiz ambitions, so much so that if a critic gave Ben a bad review, Jerry would sit down and fire off a letter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2025

He said it was likely airports in Spain and Portugal have independent power supplies, "which will see big diesel generators which fire off when it senses no power from its usual grid supply".

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2025

The laws of at least one town required automobile drivers to stop, get out, and fire off Roman candles every time horse-drawn vehicles came into view.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand