fire-eater

[fahyuhr-ee-ter]

noun

1. an entertainer who pretends to eat fire.

2. an easily provoked, belligerent person.

3. U.S. History.,  an early and extreme Southern advocate of secession before the Civil War.

fire-eater

noun

1. a performer who simulates the swallowing of fire

2. a belligerent person

Other Word Forms

• fire-eating noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of fire-eater¹

First recorded in 1665–75

Example Sentences

At these multi-weekend events, artisans sold jewelry, candles and clothing; musicians played lutes and flutes; and fire-eaters, jugglers, acrobats and jousters performed feats of medieval derring-do.

Read more on Washington Post

As before there are chapter-length portraits of key players: the Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner, Preston Brooks, the South Carolina fire-eater who caned him, and Thaddeus Stevens, radical Republican and implacable foe of slavery.

Read more on The Guardian

The theatre said the fire-eater was able to walk out of the building to the ambulance.

Read more on BBC

It only deepens hostility and hardens allegiance to modern-day “fire-eaters” who spout lies and divisive rhetoric.

Read more on New York Times

With fire-eaters like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez willing to throw members of her own party into the abyss.

Read more on Washington Times