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bonfire

[ bon-fahyuh r ]

/ ˈbɒnˌfaɪər /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR bonfire ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a large fire built in the open air, for warmth, entertainment, or celebration, to burn leaves, garbage, etc., or as a signal.

any fire built in the open.

Origin of bonfire

1375–1425; late Middle English bone fire, i.e., a fire with bones for fuel

Words nearby bonfire

bones of digits, boneset, bonesetter, boneshaker, boneyard, bonfire, bong, bongo, bonham, bonheur, bonheur-du-jour

Example sentences from the Web for bonfire

Marc Wortman is the author, among other books, of The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta.

Atlanta’s Fall Foretold The End Of Civil War Bloodshed |Marc Wortman |September 1, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
In one corner, a pile of Apple iPads and Google glasses are torched in a bonfire.

Pope Francis Declares Consumers and Capitalists Need to Help the Poor |Daniel Gross |November 26, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Everyone wanted to know the outcome of in this tropical version of Bonfire of the Vanities.

The Brutal Fall of Brazilian Billionaire Eike Batista |Mac Margolis |June 25, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Some have said that about my book, The Bonfire, about Atlanta in the Civil War.

25 Years of ‘Battle Cry of Freedom’: An Interview With James M. McPherson |Marc Wortman |June 18, 2013 |DAILY BEAST

But Bonfire of the Vanities this is not, and that is unfortunate, though the cultural references might be spot on.

This Week’s Hot Reads: May 28, 2013 |Jen Vafidis |May 28, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
We have very nearly burnt the Church of England over our heads, in our hurry to make a bonfire of the Pope.

Literary and General Lectures and Essays |Charles Kingsley
Should there be a bonfire in the quad, it is he who comes out and frantically attempts to put it out.

Oxford |Frederick Douglas How
That cursed baronet is getting ahead of me, but I think I am entitled to a bonfire as well as he is.

Willy Reilly |William Carleton
Around the bonfire a few impromptu remarks on Business Cycles will be called for.

Where the Blue Begins |Christopher Morley
It was but a bonfire in appearance, yet it marred both the landscape and the meditative rest of the gazer.

Alfgar the Dane or the Second Chronicle of Aescendune |A. D. Crake

British Dictionary definitions for bonfire

bonfire

/ (ˈbɒnˌfaɪə) /

noun

a large outdoor fire

Word Origin for bonfire

C15: alteration (through influence of French bon good) of bone-fire; from the use of bones as fuel