fireball

Also found in: Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

fire·ball

(fīr′bôl′)

1. A brilliantly burning sphere.

2. A highly luminous, intensely hot spherical cloud of dust, gas, and vapor generated by a nuclear explosion.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fireball

(ˈfaɪəˌbɔːl)

1. (Physical Geography) a ball-shaped discharge of lightning

2. (General Physics) the bright spherical region of hot ionized gas at the centre of a nuclear explosion

3. (Astronomy) astronomy another name for bolide

4. slang an energetic person

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fire•ball

(ˈfaɪ^ərˌbɔl)

n.

1. a ball of fire, as the sun or a large burst of flame.

2. a luminous meteor, sometimes exploding.

3. lightning having the appearance of a globe of fire.

4. the highly luminous central portion of a nuclear explosion.

5. a very energetic person.

fire·ball

(fīr′bôl′)

A meteor that is as bright or brighter than the brightest planets.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fireball

The luminous sphere of hot gases which forms a few millionths of a second after detonation of a nuclear weapon and immediately starts expanding and cooling.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	fireball - an especially luminous meteor (sometimes exploding) bolide shooting star, meteor - a streak of light in the sky at night that results when a meteoroid hits the earth's atmosphere and air friction causes the meteoroid to melt or vaporize or explode
	2.	fireball - a highly energetic and indefatigable person ball of fire, human dynamo, powerhouse doer, actor, worker - a person who acts and gets things done; "he's a principal actor in this affair"; "when you want something done get a doer"; "he's a miracle worker" self-starter - an energetic person with unusual initiative
	3.	fireball - a ball of fire (such as the sun or a ball-shaped discharge of lightning) globe, orb, ball - an object with a spherical shape; "a ball of fire"
	4.	fireball - the luminous center of a nuclear explosion atomic explosion, nuclear explosion - the explosion of an atomic bomb globe, orb, ball - an object with a spherical shape; "a ball of fire"

Translations

bolide boule de feu

болид

fireball

[ˈfaɪəbɔːl] N → bola f de fuego

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

fireball

[ˈfaɪə^rbɔːl] n → boule f de feufire blanket n → couverture f antifeu

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

fireball

[ˈfaɪəˌbɔːl] n (Astron) → bolide m; (nuclear) → palla di fuoco; (lightning) → fulmine m globulare

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in periodicals archive ?

While I was learning to walk, talk and stand on my own two feet, my pony, Fireball, was learning to gallop, wade in streams and lie in the pasture with no interference from me.

Spirited horse won battle of wills with young cowgirl

Carrier Escort Air Group 41 (CVEG-41), established at NAS Sand Point, Wash., on 26 March 1945, included Fighter Squadron (VF) 41 and Torpedo Squadron 41, flying FR-1 Fireball and TBM-3E Avenger aircraft, respectively.

VS-21 Redtails deactivated

"I've seen a lot of these things and this was the brightest," said John Bauguess of Eugene, who was in Salem when he saw the fireball. "It kept descending and descending and descending until I lost sight of it.

Dazzling fireball lights up night sky

Why was the fireball at impact white-hot, which is characteristic of an explosion, rather than a reddish hue which one might expect in a fireball from a jet plane crash?

9/11 Pentagon attack

Passengers were forced to evacuate from a Delta Air Lines aircraft yesterday (21 June) after a fireball shot from one of its engines.

Delta Air Lines passengers forced to evacuate flight

IN answer to Ann, of Fairwater, my mother and my aunts used to tell me about this fireball whenever there was a thunderstorm.

Viewpoints: Tale of storm fireball fear

Here the fireball is an orange-and-yellow cloud floating lightly in front of both towers.

Remains of the day: Sarah Boxer on September 11 in Image and Print. (Books)

Mark Pitman, whose favourite Just Good Fun was pulled up distressed in the novice chase-in which Raymond's Lad collapsed and died after winning-was in better spirits after seeing his Fireball Macnamara, ridden by Rodney Farrant, take the novices' hurdle.

Southwell: Victory for Fireball raises Pitman's spirits

I'm not sure why, but at that moment, I glanced in the left rear-view mirror and, to my complete disbelief, saw a huge fireball erupt around the left engine and vertical tail!

How To Create Your Own Fireball

Fireball.de, a German search portal owned by Lycos Europe, is to integrate AltaVista's search technology into its web site.

Fireball selects AltaVista's search engine

(For the fireball stunt, pyrotechnicians rigged fuses to tiny rockets set up every six meters.) A computer-generated electric signal races along a wire until it smashes into a metal match head, a small ball resembling a real match head.

Fireworks Grow Up!

Quantum Corp will start volume shipments of the Fireball lct successor, its Fireball CX hard drives in September, confident that it has cracked the price performance equation needed to succeed in the emerging sub-$700 PC sector.