fireman

American  

[fahyuhr-muhn] / ˈfaɪər mən /

noun

firemen plural

1. a person employed to extinguish or prevent fires; firefighter.

2. a person employed to tend fires; stoker.

3. Railroads.

   1. a person employed to fire and lubricate a steam locomotive.

   2. a person employed to assist the engineer of a diesel or electric locomotive.

4. U.S. Navy. an enlisted person assigned to the care and operation of a ship's machinery.

5. British Mining. fire boss.

6. Baseball. relief pitcher.

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fireman British  

/ ˈfaɪəmən /

noun

1. Gender-neutral form: firefighter.  a man who fights fires, usually a public employee or trained volunteer

2. 1. (on steam locomotives) the man who stokes the fire and controls the injectors feeding water to the boiler

   2. (on diesel and electric locomotives) the driver's assistant

3. a man who tends furnaces; stoker

4. US equivalent: fire boss.  Also called: deputy.  a mine official responsible for safety precautions

5. navy a junior rating who works on marine engineering equipment

6. informal any employee who is dispatched to deal with trouble at short notice

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Gender

See -man.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• firemen
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fireman

1620–30 for sense “gunner”; fire + -man

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fireman firemen

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

He loaded up his car with personal belongings, then used the techniques he’d learned as a fireman to protect his family home.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025

“Well, then, what if a fireman accidentally, really not, intending anything, takes a book home with him?”

From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

A wisely managed retirement plan for cops and firemen is shaken down to shrink a deficit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 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

After a nervy 30 minutes, firemen finally freed the parachutist and his chute to big cheers from the crowd.

From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2025

One spill getting out of the modified recliner that serves as his bed required a 911 call and three firemen to help get him back on his feet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2024

Nothing the firemen or citizens of Chicago did seemed to stop the fire’s insatiable quest for fuel.

From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy

Related Words

• firefighter