bonfire
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɒnfaɪəɹ/
ipa: [ˈbɒɱˌfaɪ̯ɚ]
ipa: /ˈbɒnfaɪə/
ipa: /ˈbɑnˌfaɪɚ/
note: Southern US, African-American Vernacular
ipa: [ˈb̥ɒ̃ɱfaɛ̯ɚ]
Forms: form: bonfires
form: burnfire
form: bonefire
form: boanefier
form: bonefier
form: beane fyre
form: bon-fier
form: bonfier
form: bonfyer
form: bone fyre
form: bon-fire
Etymology: PIE word
 *péh₂wr̥
 From Middle English bonnefyre (“a fire in which bones are burnt, bonfire”) [and other forms], by surface analysis, bone + fire. Replaced earlier Middle English bale-fyre, from Old English bǣlfȳr (see balefire). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes that bonfires, originally lit as part of midsummer celebrations, were not generally associated with the burning of bones. However, the first edition of the OED (under the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 1887) stated that “for the annual midsummer ‘banefire’ or ‘bonfire’ in the burgh of Hawick [in Roxburghshire, Scotland], old bones were regularly collected and stored up, down to c. 1800”. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognate with Scots banefire (“bonfire”).
Senses: examples: text: O thou art a perpetuall triumph, an euerlaſting bonefire light, […]
ref: c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
text: Theſe vvith the like diſtaſtures, diuulged among the rude multitude, it vvas a vvorld to ſee the face of this nevv VVorld, for in euery ſtreete Bonfires vvere made, in euery Church bels rung, Ditties vvere ſung at euery meeting, and euery man cryed K. Henry, King Henry, […]
ref: 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Edward the Fourth, First King of the House of Yorke, King of England and France, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 50, page 681:
text: And vve particularly remember, that, being at ſome diſtance from London one Night, that the People, upon a very vvell-come Occaſion, teſtified their Joy by numerous Bon-fires; though, by reaſon of the Interpoſition of the Houſes, vve could not ſee the Fires themſelves, yet vve could plainly ſee the Air all enlighten'd over and near the City; vvhich argu'd, that the lucid Beams ſhot upvvards from the Fires, met in the Air with the Corpuſcles opacous enough to reflect them to our Eyes.
ref: 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, “[Experiment 37]”, in New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC, page 309:
text: Towns have been taken, and battles have been won; the mob has huzza'd round bonefires, the Stentor of the chappel has ſtrained his throat in the gallery, and the Stentor of S——m has deafned his audience from the pulpit.
ref: 1710 October 2 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Whig-Examiner: No. 2. Thursday, September 21. [1710.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 339:
text: The bells of all England rang joyously: the gutters ran with ale; and, night after night, the sky five miles round London was reddened by innumerable bonfires.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 148:
text: A number of towns in East Sussex, and on the borders of Kent and Surrey, make a special feature of huge bonfires and torchlight processions with fireworks on Guy Fawkes day or an early November Saturday.
ref: 1953 January, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes: Southern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 68:
synonyms: word: bale
glosses: A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal.
examples: text: [A]ll the inhabitauntes confortynge and exhortynge eche other to die, rather than to violate the leage and amitie that they of longe tyme had contynued with the Romaynes, by one hole assent, after that they hadde made sondry great pyles of wode and of other mater to brenne, they layde in it all their goodes and substaunce, and laste of all, conuayenge them selfes in to the saide pyles or bonefires with their wyfes and children, sette all on fire, and there were brenned or Annyballe coulde entree the citie.
ref: 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Faythe or Fidelitie, Called in Latyne Fides whiche is the Fundation of Iustyce”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 213:
text: I had thought to haue let in ſome of all Profeſſions, that goe the Primroſe way to th'euerlasting Bonfire.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 137, column 1:
text: He's mounted on a Hazel Bavin, / A Cropt malignant Baker gave 'em. / And to the largeſt Bonefire, riding / Th' have Roaſted Cook already, and Pride-m.
ref: 1677 (indicated as 1678), [Samuel Butler], “[The Third Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part. […], London: […] Robert Horne, […], published 1679, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 183:
text: [M]any of the women threw down their head-dresses in the middle of his [Thomas Conecte's] sermon, and made a bonfire of them within sight of the pulpit.
ref: 1711 July 3 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, June 22, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 98; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 42:
glosses: A fire lit outdoors to burn unwanted items; originally (historical), heretics or other offenders, or banned books; now, generally agricultural or garden waste, or rubbish.
examples: text: And one thing I like in you, novv that you ſee / The bonefire of your Ladies ſtate burnt out, / You give it over, doe you not?
ref: 1620 (first performance; published 1622), Philip Messenger [i.e., Philip Massinger]; Thomas Dekker, The Virgin Martyr; a Tragedie. […], London: […] B[ernard] A[lsop] and T[homas] F[awcet] for Thomas Iones, […], published 1631, →OCLC, Act III, signature [G4], verso:
glosses: Something like a bonfire (sense 1 or 2) in heat, destructiveness, ferocity, etc.
examples: text: The bodies which the plague had ſlaine were (O moſt wretched caſe) / Not caried forth to buriall now. For why ſuch ſtore there was / That ſcarce the gates were wyde inough for Coffins forth to paſſe. / So eyther lothly on the ground vnburied did they lie, / Or elſe without ſolemnitie were burnt in bonfires hie / No reuerence nor regard was had.
ref: 1567, Ovid, “The Seventh Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 90, verso:
text: Now wil the Chriſtian miſcreants be glad, / Ringing with ioy their ſuperſtitious belles: / And making bonfires for my ouerthrow. / But ere I die thoſe foule Idolaters / Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones, […]
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
text: For after Tertullian, in the dayes of Minucius it was obviouſly objected upon Chriſtians, that they condemned the practiſe of burning. […] And perhaps not fully diſuſed till Chriſtianity fully eſtabliſhed, vvhich gave the finall extinction to theſe ſepulchrall Bonefires.
ref: 1658, Thomas Browne, “Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall. […]. Chapter II.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 22:
synonyms: word: bale
glosses: A fire lit to cremate a dead body; a funeral pyre.
Derived terms: bonfire boy
Bonfire Island
bonfirelike
Bonfire Night
bonfire of the vanities
bonfire society
bonfire toffee
bonnie
piss on someone's bonfire
Related terms: balefire