fire escape

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noun

an apparatus or structure used to escape from a burning building, as a metal stairway down an outside wall.

Nearby words

fire curtain, fire department, fire door, fire drill, fire engine, fire escape, fire extinguisher, fire gilding, fire hall, fire hat, fire hose

Origin of fire escape

First recorded in 1670–80

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for fire escape

On either side was gracefully arranged an American flag, while the harp of Erin hung just in the middle of the fire-escape.
The Leaven in a Great City|Lillian William Betts
If it's the north room on the fire-escape, sir, it must be the room young Mr. Prentiss has to-night.
In And Out|Edgar Franklin
A fire-escape would impart security to sleep, and might be taken down into the country.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. 580, Supplemental Number|Various
There's no fire-escape and it's too far up for anything to come in from the street.
Average Jones|Samuel Hopkins Adams

With a rush of impulse she stepped out upon the fire-escape, the letter fluttering in her hand.
Phases of an Inferior Planet|Ellen Glasgow

British Dictionary definitions for fire escape

fire escape

noun

a means of evacuating people from a building in the event of fire, esp a metal staircase outside the building

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012