'Backfire' definitions:
Definition of 'backfire'
From: WordNet
noun
The backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired [syn: blowback, backfire]
noun
A loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine
noun
A fire that is set intentionally in order to slow an approaching forest fire or grassfire by clearing a burned area in its path
noun
A miscalculation that recoils on its maker [syn: backfire, boomerang]
verb
Come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect; "Your comments may backfire and cause you a lot of trouble" [syn: backfire, backlash, recoil]
verb
Emit a loud noise as a result of undergoing a backfire; "My old car backfires all the time"
verb
Set a controlled fire to halt an advancing forest to prairie fire
Definition of 'Backfire'
From: GCIDE
- Backfire \Back"fire`\ Back-fire \Back"-fire`\, v. i.
- 1. (Engin.) To have or experience a back fire or back fires; -- said of an internal-combustion engine. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
- 2. Of a Bunsen or similar air-fed burner, to light so that the flame proceeds from the internal gas jet instead of from the external jet of mixed gas and air. -- {Back"-fir`ing}, n. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Definition of 'backfire'
From: GCIDE
- backfire \backfire\, back fire \back fire\
- 1. A fire started ahead of a forest or prairie fire to burn only against the wind, so that when the two fires meet both must go out for lack of fuel. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
- 2. (a) A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in a direction reverse to that in which it should travel; also called a knock or ping. (b) an explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine. [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC] Backfire
Synonyms of 'backfire'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- backlash,
- backlashing,
- balefire,
- bang,
- beacon,
- beacon fire,
- blast,
- blaze,
- blow out,
- blow up,
- blowout,
- blowup,
- bonfire,
- boom,
- boomerang,
- bounce,
- bounce back,
- bound,
- bound back,
- burning ghat,
- burst,
- bust,
- campfire,
- cannon,
- cannon off,
- carom,
- cheerful fire,
- combustion,
- come to grief,
- comeback,
- conflagration,
- contrecoup,
- corposant,
- counterattack,
- counterblast,
- counterblow,
- counterfire,
- counterinsurgency,
- countermeasure,
- counterrevolution,
- counterstep,
- counterstroke,
- cozy fire,
- crackling fire,
- crematory,
- death fire,
- defense,
- detonate,
- detonation,
- discharge,
- explode,
- explosion,
- fall through,
- fen fire,
- fire,
- fizzle,
- flame,
- flare,
- flash,
- flashing point,
- flicker,
- flickering flame,
- fly back,
- forest fire,
- fox fire,
- fulguration,
- fulminate,
- fulmination,
- funeral pyre,
- go off,
- have repercussions,
- ignis fatuus,
- ignition,
- ingle,
- kick,
- kick back,
- kickback,
- lambent flame,
- lash back,
- lay an egg,
- let off,
- marshfire,
- miscarry,
- miss,
- open fire,
- prairie fire,
- pyre,
- raging fire,
- rebound,
- rebuff,
- recalcitrate,
- recalcitration,
- recoil,
- repercuss,
- repercussion,
- report,
- repulse,
- resile,
- resilience,
- retort,
- ricochet,
- sea of flames,
- set off,
- sheet of fire,
- shoot,
- signal beacon,
- smudge fire,
- snap back,
- spring,
- spring back,
- three-alarm fire,
- touch off,
- two-alarm fire,
- watch fire,
- wildfire,
- witch fire