different between fireplug vs fireman

English

Etymology

fire +? plug, referring to the system used prior to fire hydrants, in which a large plug was placed into a hole in the water main, then covered with a barrel. The plug was removed when water was needed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa?(?)pl??/

Noun

fireplug (plural fireplugs)

1. A fire hydrant.
   • 1976, Kurt Vonnegut, Slapstick, Delacorte Press, Chapter 1, p. 22,

     She is a strong and warm-hearted and hard-working farmer in her early sixties. She is built like a fireplug.

Translations

Anagrams

• gripeful

English

Etymology

fire +? -man

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?fa??m?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?fa??m?n/
• Hyphenation: fire?man

Noun

fireman (plural firemen)

1. (firefighting) Someone (especially one who is male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire.
   • 1993, Nancy F. Cott (editor), History of Women in the United States. Historical Articles on Women's Lives and Activities. 15. Women and War, page 432:

     By February 1944 there were over two thousand women employed at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company [...]. There were also female firemen on almost every shipyard crane [...].

   • 30 June 2019 'Don't call us for cats stuck in trees', Fire Brigade warns (Daily Telegraph)

     For firemen everywhere rescuing cats from trees has been as much a part of the job as tackling blazing buildings.

2. (rail transport, nautical) A person (originally a man) who keeps the fire going underneath a steam boiler (originally, shoveling coal by hand), particularly on a railroad locomotive or steamship.
   • ca. 1913 The wreck of Old 97 [ballad, Blue Ridge Mountains], verse 3:

     He looked around his cab at his black greasy fireman, saying 'shovel on a little more coal, and when we cross that White Oak Mountain, you can watch Old 97 roll'.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter IX, p. 140, [1]

     No grass grew under a train when the engineer let Fireman McLash take the throttle.
3. (rail transport, by extension) An assistant on any locomotive, whether steam-powered or not.
4. (baseball) A relief pitcher.
5. (mining, historical) A safety inspector in coal mines.

Usage notes

• (firefighting): Historically only a man, but now used to refer to female firefighters as well. In modern usage, the gender-inclusive term firefighter is generally preferred.
• (rail transport): This term is commonly used for both males and females, firewoman is rarer in this sense.

Synonyms

• (firefighting): firefighter, smoke eater
• (railt ransport, nautical): bakehead (informal)

Hyponyms

• (firefighting): firewoman; hotshot, smokejumper

Related terms

Translations

See also

• tillerman
• stoker

Anagrams

• feminar, inframe