fire shield

A portable structure on wheels or on legs, used to protect a fireman on duty from the heat of a burning building, or to isolate a fire and prevent its spreading to adjacent buildings. It is usually a screen of sheet-iron supported by posts and stayed by guys. bay, alleges that "they actually addre it in sup plication, as if it were sentient, intelligent, divine, and omnipresent, and ready to hear, ble , a ist, and deliver; as is clearly proved by many pa ages of the Vandidad and by several of the Yasts and Has of the Yacna and Niashes, to be found in the works esteemed sacred, and used by the Parsis [Parsees] in their daily prayers" ( Wilson : Sermon to the Parsis , 3d ed. (1847), pp. 60, 61). No prominent IMG:content-1662.png:[blocks in formation] "The dough is then rolled thin, and cut into small scones, which, when fired , are handed round the company." J. Nicol : Poems , i. 28 (Note). 2. Figuratively: *(1) To drive by fire. "He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven And fire us hence." --Shakesp.: Lear, v. 3. (2) To discharge; to cause to explode: as, to fire a gun, to fire a mine. "Bertram, forbear!-we are undone Forever, if thou fire the gun." Scott: Rokeby, iv. 26. (3) To inflame; to irritate; to excite or arouse the pa ions. "For from the first, when love had fired my mind, Resolved I left the care of life behind." Dryden: Cymon and Iphigenia, 534, 535. (4) To stir, to arouse, to excite. "Oft have I heard it fire the fight." Scott: Lord of the Isles, iv. 18. (5) To animate, to give life or spirit to; as, to fire the genius. (6) To cause to appear as if on fire; to illuminate strongly. "He [the sun) fires the proud tops of the eastern pines." -Shakesp.: Richard III . , iii. 2. II. Farriery : To cauterize, to burn. B. Intransitive : I. Ordinary Language : 1. Lit .: To take fire; to be kindled. "The greatest inconvenience of this wooden building is the aptne for firing ."-Hackluyt: Voyages, i. 480. IMG:content-1663.png:[blocks in formation]