liquid fire

American  

noun

1. flaming petroleum or the like, as employed against an enemy in warfare.

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liquid fire British  

noun

1. inflammable petroleum or other liquid used as a weapon of war in flamethrowers, etc

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Etymology

Origin of liquid fire

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

But he didn’t have the expressive variety to make the horror of Hercules’ death scene match lines like “Along my feverish veins, like liquid fire, the subtle poison hastes.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

She had been the only woman working the Bessemer steel mill, pouring liquid fire into molds and showing the men how to lift machinery without wrenching their backs.

From Washington Post • Jan. 21, 2023

Dream logic tells me I am not dead until my eyes descend into the liquid fire, and when they do, the dream allows me to die and so wake up.

From Nature • Sep. 1, 2020

Almost immediately the entire mountain appeared to be consumed by liquid fire, a fountain of ash, , and molten rock shooting in every direction.

From Scientific American • Mar. 1, 2013

I felt like someone was pouring liquid fire onto my head.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah