fire off
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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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QUIZ YOURSELF ON “ITS” VS. “IT’S”!
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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
Words nearby fire off
firelock, fireman, fire marshal, firenado, Firenze, fire off, fire on all cylinders, fire opal, firepan, fire pink, firepit
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.