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.
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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.
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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.
That routine was becoming normal, he said, though the engine crew was being kept on standby, ready to "fire up our engines" in case of emergency.
From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026
The company is set to fire up a new gas-burning power plant that will largely replace the generation lost from Tihange, boosting Belgium’s greenhouse gas emissions, at least temporarily.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025
And yet, like so many people, I ignore this advice and fire up my laptop whenever a medical mystery arises.
From Slate • Jul. 26, 2025
"It's so easy to fire up Mario Kart on the GameCube at home and spend the whole night with the controllers."
From BBC • Jul. 12, 2025
Lyra sat close to the anvil, where the knife lay cooling, and Iorek told her to bank the fire up and not let it burn down: there was a final operation yet.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
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.
