fire up
Idioms-
Inflame with enthusiasm, anger, or another strong emotion, as in Her speech fired up the crowd in favor of her proposals . This expression dates from the early 1800s, when it referred literally to starting a fire in a furnace or boiler; its figurative use dates from the late 1800s.
-
Light a pipe, cigar, or cigarette, as in Do you mind if I fire up? [Late 1800s] A more common term, however, is light up , def. 2.
-
Start the ignition of an engine, as in Whenever he tried to fire up the motor, it stalled . [Mid-1900s]
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.
When a child reads a physical book with an adult, important brain regions fire up.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026
“Pretty cool,” Chesney said after a drizzly two hours which saw players on both sides of the ball make big plays to fire up their respective sidelines.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
That includes lower-surface cruise missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles that fire up and over the roughly 35,000 feet that commercial flights typically operate at.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 28, 2026
He hopes a deeper relationship with European neighbours can help fire up Britain's insipid economy and inject life into a premiership that has so far been deeply unpopular with the public.
From Barron's • Jan. 18, 2026
Four firefighters rushed to the jammed floodgate and struggled to fire up a backup generator.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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.
