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by Liz Walter

My last post focused on words connected to fire and burning. Many of these words and phrases are also used in metaphorical or idiomatic ways, and today’s post discusses this aspect of them.

The word fire itself is often used to indicate strong emotions, especially anger or enthusiasm. For example, we sometimes say that we can see fire in someone’s eyes. If we say that someone has fire in their belly, we mean that they are absolutely determined to succeed at something:

I saw the fire in her eyes when he criticized her daughter.

To be a top-class athlete, you need fire in your belly.

The phrase on fire is used very positively, to mean that someone is working or performing extremely well, but if someone or something doesn’t set the world on fire/alight isn’t very exciting or successful:

The band was on fire that evening.

Her first novel didn’t exactly set the world on fire.

Unsurprisingly, the idea of fire is also used figuratively to mean danger or problems. For example, if you play with fire,  you do something very risky, while someone who puts out fires spends their time dealing with problems that threaten the success of something:

He thinks he can trick his boss, but he’s really playing with fire.

I spend so much time putting out fires, I can’t make any progress with my work.

People often say there’s no smoke without fire (UK)/where there’s smoke, there’s fire (US) to express the idea that there is probably at least some truth in unpleasant rumours about someone:

“There’s no proof he’s dishonest.” “There’s no smoke without fire.”

There are several useful idioms connected to the idea of burning. If money is burning a hole in your pocket, you are very eager to spend it, and if you burn the midnight oil, you stay up very late working. If someone has/gets their fingers burned, they have an unpleasant experience that makes them reluctant to try the same thing again, while someone who burns their boats/bridges does something that makes it impossible to go back to a previous situation:

He was at the shopping centre and had £20 burning a hole in his pocket.

I had exams coming up and was burning the midnight oil.

He invested in a newspaper and had his fingers badly burned.

The new job was a disappointment, but she’d burned her bridges at her previous company.

If someone or something fans the flames, it makes a dangerous situation worse, and if something such as a piece of news spreads like wildfire, it spreads very quickly:

These people are fanning the flames of racism.

Rumours of his illness spread like wildfire.

These are just some of the fire-related phrases we use – do suggest any others you know in the comments!