bonfire

English
bonfire (large controlled outside fire).

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English bonefire, bonefyre, banefyre (“a fire in which bones are burnt”), equivalent to bone +‎ fire.[1] Cognate with Scots banefire (“bonfire”). More at bone, fire.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈbɒnfaɪə/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈbɑnfaɪɚ/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

bonfire (plural bonfires)

  1. (obsolete) A fire in which bones are burned.
  2. A fire to burn unwanted or disreputable items or people: proscribed books, heretics etc.
  3. A large, controlled outdoor fire, as a signal or to celebrate something.

Derived terms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

References
  1. “bonfire” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

Anagrams
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.