fireman
Americannoun
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a person employed to extinguish or prevent fires; firefighter.
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a person employed to tend fires; stoker.
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Railroads.
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a person employed to fire and lubricate a steam locomotive.
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a person employed to assist the engineer of a diesel or electric locomotive.
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U.S. Navy. an enlisted person assigned to the care and operation of a ship's machinery.
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British Mining. fire boss.
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Baseball. relief pitcher.
noun
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Gender-neutral form: firefighter. a man who fights fires, usually a public employee or trained volunteer
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(on steam locomotives) the man who stokes the fire and controls the injectors feeding water to the boiler
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(on diesel and electric locomotives) the driver's assistant
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a man who tends furnaces; stoker
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US equivalent: fire boss. Also called: deputy. a mine official responsible for safety precautions
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navy a junior rating who works on marine engineering equipment
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informal any employee who is dispatched to deal with trouble at short notice
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fireman
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.
See Examples For:
"I am profoundly grieved at the loss of this dedicated and gallant fireman," Andy Yeung, director of the fire service said in a statement.
From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2025
Replete with Constructivist angles, it’s an unsentimental account of a woman who tells her fireman husband he isn’t the father of their newborn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
Once again, he is both arsonist and fireman.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
And the times they couldn’t, Roberts would turn to left-hander Alex Vesia to be his primary fireman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025
Sergio deliberately made sure not to look toward where the fireman was sitting, or make eye contact with him.
From "Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story" by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Volunteer firemen is a tradition as old as the nation, but fewer young people are signing up to do the job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Volunteer firemen is a tradition as old as the nation, but fewer young people are signing up to do the job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
An unverified video circulating on social media showed firemen entering a heavily damaged flat covered in dust and rubble and with blown-out windows, while another showed drone debris strewn across the street below.
From BBC ● May 4, 2026
In the Nashville airport, he found himself alongside a group of firemen heading to Oklahoma to help with the rescue.
From Slate ● Apr. 19, 2026
The penguins under their firemen’s helmets were parading in front of the policemen, while the seals, in their policemen’s caps, were barking at the firemen, when Mr. Popper and Mr. Swenson finally opened the door.
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
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.
