different between sway vs fire

English

Etymology

Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijan? (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweh?- (compare Lithuanian sva?gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan ????????????????????-????????????????????????????? (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit ?????? (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).

The noun derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sw?, IPA^(key): /swe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
2. A rocking or swinging motion.

3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.

Translations

Verb

sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)

1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

   • This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

5. (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     The balance sways on our part.

7. To have weight or influence.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.

8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Derived terms

• asway

Translations

See also

• persuade

Anagrams

• -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?fa??(?)/
• (Upper RP Triphthong Smoothing) IPA^(key): /?fa?(?)/, /?fa?(?)/, /?f??(?)/, /?f???(?)/
• (General American) enPR: f???r, f?r, IPA^(key): /?fa??/, [?fa??]
• (Southern American English, Appalachia) IPA^(key): [?fä??]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?f?e?(?)/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English fier, from Old English f?r (“fire”), from Proto-West Germanic *fuir, from *fuïr, a regularised form of Proto-Germanic *f?r (“fire”) (compare Saterland Frisian Fjuur, West Frisian fjoer, Dutch vuur, Low German Füer, German Feuer, Danish fyr), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *péh?wr?.

Compare Hittite ???????????? (pa??ur), Umbrian pir, Tocharian A/B por/puwar, Czech pý? (“hot ashes”), Ancient Greek ??? (pûr, “fire”), and Armenian ???? (hur, “fire”)). This was an inanimate noun whose animate counterpart was Proto-Indo-European *h?n?g?nis (see ignite). Cognate to pyre.

Alternative forms

• fier (archaic)

Noun

fire (countable and uncountable, plural fires)

2. (uncountable) A (usually self-sustaining) chemical reaction involving the bonding of oxygen with carbon or other fuel, with the production of heat and the presence of flame or smouldering.
3. (countable) An instance of this chemical reaction, especially when intentionally created and maintained in a specific location to a useful end (such as a campfire or a hearth fire).
4. (countable) The occurrence, often accidental, of fire in a certain place, causing damage and danger.
5. (uncountable, alchemy, philosophy) The aforementioned chemical reaction of burning, considered one of the Classical elements or basic elements of alchemy.
6. (countable, Britain) A heater or stove used in place of a real fire (such as an electric fire).
7. (countable) The elements necessary to start a fire.

8. (uncountable) The bullets or other projectiles fired from a gun or other ranged weapon.

9. (rocketry) An instance of firing one or more rocket engines.
11. Strength of passion, whether love or hate.
    • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to some Considerations, the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation

      He had fire in his temper.

12. Liveliness of imagination or fancy; intellectual and moral enthusiasm.
13. Splendour; brilliancy; lustre; hence, a star.
14. A severe trial; anything inflaming or provoking.
15. Red coloration in a piece of opal.

Synonyms

• blaze
• conflagration
• inferno

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ????? (faiy?)
• Sranan Tongo: faya

Translations

See fire/translations § Noun.

Etymology 2

From Middle English firen, fyren, furen, from Old English f?rian (“to make a fire”), from the noun (see above). Cognate with Old Frisian fioria (“to light a fire”), Saterland Frisian fjuurje (“to fire”), Middle Dutch vûren, vueren, vieren (“to set fire”), Dutch vuren (“to fire, shoot”), Old High German fiuren (“to ignite, set on fire”), German feuern (“to fire”).

Verb

fire (third-person singular simple present fires, present participle firing, simple past and past participle fired)

1. (transitive) To set (something, often a building) on fire.
   • 1907, Jack London, The Iron Heel

     It was long a question of debate, whether the burning of the South Side ghetto was accidental, or whether it was done by the Mercenaries; but it is definitely settled now that the ghetto was fired by the Mercenaries under orders from their chiefs.

2. (transitive) To heat as with fire, but without setting on fire, as ceramic, metal objects, etc.

   • So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

3. (transitive) To drive away by setting a fire.
4. (transitive) To terminate the employment contract of (an employee), especially for cause (such as misconduct or poor performance).

   Antonym: hire

   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p.226:

     The first, obvious choice was hysterical and fantastic Blanche – had there not been her timidity, her fear of being ‘fired’ […].

5. (transitive) To shoot (a gun, rocket/missile, or analogous device).

6. (rocketry) To operate a rocket engine to produce thrust.

7. (transitive, mining) To set off an explosive in a mine.
8. (intransitive) To shoot a gun, cannon, or similar weapon.

   Synonyms: open fire, shoot

9. (transitive, sports) To shoot; to attempt to score a goal.
10. (intransitive, physiology) To cause an action potential in a cell.

11. (transitive) To forcibly direct (something).

12. (transitive, intransitive, computer sciences, software engineering) To initiate an event (by means of an event handler).

13. To inflame; to irritate, as the passions.

    • Love had fired my mind.

14. To animate; to give life or spirit to.

15. To feed or serve the fire of.
16. (transitive) To light up as if by fire; to illuminate.
17. (transitive, farriery) To cauterize.
18. (intransitive, dated) To catch fire; to be kindled.
19. (intransitive, dated) To be irritated or inflamed with passion.

Synonyms

• (set on fire): See set on fire
• (transitive, shoot): let off, loose (archery), shoot
• (terminate the employment of): dehire, dismiss, give one's cards, give the boot, give the elbow, give the old heave-ho, let go, make redundant, sack, terminate, throw out, unhire; See also Thesaurus:lay off.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Alternative forms

• fye (nonstandard, Internet slang)

Adjective

fire (not comparable)

1. (slang) Amazing; excellent.

Translations

Further reading

• fire on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Fire in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• -fier, Fier, Frie, fier, refi, reif, rief, rife

Asturian

Verb

fire

1. third-person singular present indicative of firir

Crimean Tatar

Noun

fire

1. shrinkage, loss
2. scrap

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse fjórir, from Proto-Germanic *fedw?r, from Proto-Indo-European *k?etwóres (“four”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi?r?/, [?fi??]

Numeral

fire

1. four

Usage notes

In compounds: fir-.

Etymology 2

From Middle Low German f?ren, from French virer (“bear, veer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi?r?/, [?fi??]

Verb

fire (imperative fir, infinitive at fire, present tense firer, past tense firede, perfect tense har firet)

1. to lower something fixed to a rope or something similar
   • 1871, Jens Andreas Friis, Lappisk Mythologi, page 138

     Saa gik han hen og firede Stenen og Vidietouget ned i Hullet.

     Then he went [to the hole] and lowered the rock and the wicker rope down into the hole.

   • 2014, Teddy Vork, Diget, Tellerup A/S ?ISBN

     Han satte sig på knæ, famlede sig frem til tovet og vendte sig rundt så han havde ryggen til hullet, drejede overkroppen bagud, firede faklen ned i hullet.

     He kneeled, fumbled his way to the rope and turned around, such that his back was to the hole, twisted his torso backwards, lowered the torch into the hole.

Conjugation

Italian

Etymology

From Latin f?er? (“to become, be”), present active infinitive of f??. Compare Romanian fi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fi.re/
• Hyphenation: fì?re

Verb

fìre (third-person only, third-person singular present fìa, no third-person singular past historic, no past participle)

1. (northern Italy, obsolete) to be

   Synonym: essere

Usage notes

• The only forms attested outside of ancient Northern Italian literature are the future fia (third-person singular) and fiano (third-person plural).

References

• fire in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Danish fire, Old Norse fjórir, from Proto-Germanic *fedw?r, from *k?etw?r, the neuter form of Proto-Indo-European *k?etwóres.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fi???/

Numeral

fire

1. four

Derived terms

Related terms

• fjerde (ordinal)

Etymology 2

From French virer, via Middle Low German firen

Verb

fire (imperative fir, present tense firer, passive fires, simple past fira or firet or firte, past participle fira or firet or firt, present participle firende)

1. to slacken, ease
2. to lower (a flag)

References

• “fire” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse fjórir, via Danish fire.

Etymology 1

From Danish fire, Old Norse fjórir, from Proto-Germanic *fedw?r, from *k?etw?r, the neuter form of Proto-Indo-European *k?etwóres.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /?fi???/

Numeral

fire

1. four

Derived terms

Related terms

• fjerde (ordinal)

Etymology 2

From French virer, via Middle Low German firen.

Verb

fire

1. to slacken, ease
2. to lower (e.g. a flag)

References

• “fire” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology 1

Noun

fire n

1. plural of fir

Etymology 2

From fi +? -re.

Noun

fire f (plural firi)

1. essence, substance, nature

   Synonym: natur?

2. character, temper, disposition

   Synonyms: caracter, temperament

3. mind

   Synonym: minte

Declension

Related terms

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Greek ???? (Fýra)

Noun

fire (definite accusative fireyi, plural fireler)

1. wastage
2. outage
3. shrinkage, loss, loss in weight, decrease
4. turnover
5. ullage
6. leakage
7. waste, tret, deficiency

Declension