miss fire

Idioms  

1. Fail to achieve the anticipated result, as in Recycling cardboard seemed like a good idea but it missed fire. First recorded in 1727, this phrase originally described a firearm failing to go off and has been used figuratively since the mid-1800s.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

miss fire

I never knew that gun to miss fire before.

From Harper's Young People, April 6, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

It is a capital job, well planted; and if it does not miss fire, it will bring plenty of fish to net, and no mistake.

From The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 4 of 6 by Eugène Sue

I held my breath with anxiety; for should my cousin’s gun miss fire, it seemed impossible for him to escape being seized by the tremendous creature.

From In the Wilds of Africa by Alfred Pearse

Villiam assumed a thoughtful demeanor, and says he: "Is it a miss fire?"

From The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers. Series 2 by R. H. (Robert Henry) Newell

Jack and his shipmates, in the meantime, were busily employed in re-sharpening their hangers, and looking to their pistols and ammunition, putting in fresh flints, and seeing that they were not likely to miss fire.

From John Deane of Nottingham Historic Adventures by Land and Sea by William Henry Giles Kingston

Related Words

• abort
• fall through