flamethrower

[fleym-throh-er]

noun

1. a weapon, either mounted or portable, that sprays ignited incendiary fuel for some distance.

2. Agriculture.,  flame cultivator.

Word History and Origins

Origin of flamethrower¹

First recorded in 1915–20; flame + thrower

Example Sentences

South Korean police said they would seek an arrest warrant for a woman who set fire to her apartment building while trying to kill a cockroach with an improvised flamethrower, local media report.

Read more on BBC

For a closer, they turned to Roki Sasaki, the Japanese rookie flamethrower who has been a reliever for all of 10 days.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He was followed by flamethrower Edgardo Henriquez, who walked the first two hitters and gave up a hit to the third, forcing in two runs.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It can be breathy and ethereal or a searing flamethrower — and she transforms into an angelic chorus of one when she tracks layers of her own harmonies.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Sen. John Cornyn, not typically a flamethrower, is taunting Paxton, his primary challenger, for not doing more to drag the Democrats back.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• ammunition 
• bomb 
• cannon 
• firearm 
• gun 
• knife 
• machete 
• machine gun 
• missile 
• nerve gas 
• pistol 
• revolver 
• rifle 
• shotgun 
• sword 
• tear gas