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

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Etymology

Origin of fireman

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fireman firemen

“Forget that one. It’s gone,” they heard one fireman say, referring to their house.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

"So it is!" chimed in an off-duty fireman nearby.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

"As I recall he was very rarely there," said the former fireman from Gwynedd.

From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2026

“Those corridors fill up with smoke, so now you’re having to do a fireman crawl along the floor for potentially hundreds of feet,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2025

Before he could send the fireman to investigate, the ghastly figure had vanished in the haze, melted in the mist.

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

By all means honor the firemen and police and others who gave their lives on 9/11.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

In northern Portugal, in Valpacos, nearly 800 firemen were battling a forest fire that was spreading, the civil protection service said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 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

"Most of the firemen know the area so well and they know how to manage it."

From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2025

I rode with the firemen as the engine barreled down the street.

From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

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Related Words

• firefighter

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