different between afire vs smouldering

English

Etymology

13^thc., from a- (“on”) +? fire. Figurative usage from late 14^thc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??fa??(?)/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)

Adverb

afire (comparative more afire, superlative most afire)

1. On fire (often metaphorically).

Adjective

afire (comparative more afire, superlative most afire)

1. On fire (often metaphorically).

Quotations

• 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, New York: C.S. Francis & Co., 1857, Seventh Book, p. 275^[1]:

  […] Earth’s crammed with heaven, / And every common bush afire with God:

• 1931, Nacio Herb Brown and Gordon Clifford, “Paradise” (song first sung by Pola Negri and later covered by Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra):

  Her eyes afire / With one desire. / Then a heavenly kiss: / Could I resist?

• 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, Chapter 63:

  Old claw-like hands, cracked with long years of thankless toil, would hold aloft a delicate bird of wood, its wings, as thin as paper, spread for flight, its breast afire with a crimson stain.

Synonyms

• ablaze
• aflame

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Arfie, Feria, Freia, faire, feria, rafie

English

Alternative forms

• smoldering US

Verb

smouldering

1. present participle of smoulder
   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, Guinevere

     Some evil chance / Will make the smouldering scandal break and blaze.

Noun

smouldering (plural smoulderings)

1. (sometimes figuratively) The act by which something smoulders; residual heat.

   the smoulderings of the Thirty Years War

Anagrams

• remouldings