fiery

From Middle English fyry, from fyr (“fire”), equivalent to fire +‎ -y.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪəɹi/, /ˈfaɪɹi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: firey
• Rhymes: -aɪəɹi

fiery (comparative more fiery or fierier, superlative most fiery or fieriest)

1. Of or relating to fire.
2. Burning or glowing.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:

     Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within, […] most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno.  As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities.

3. Inflammable or easily ignited.
4. Having the colour of fire.
5. Hot or inflamed.
   • 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:

     The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. […] Drifts of yellow vapour, fiery, parching, stinging, filled the air.

   • 2017 July 12, Sanjiv Khamgaonkar, “40 Mumbai foods we can’t live without”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     A couple of vegetables, sambar (spicy and sour lentils and vegetables boiled with masalas and spices), rasam (a hot and fiery lentil soup-like dish) and curds (yoghurt) served with heaps of rice and eaten in that order. A non-vegetarian version of the “meals” can be found in “Military” hotels.

6. Tempestuous or emotionally volatile; sulfurous.

   a fiery temper

7. Spirited or filled with emotion.
   • 2019 October 15, ZA/UM, Robert Kurvitz, quoting Limbic System, Disco Elysium, →OCLC:

     A fiery streak penetrates your skull, trying to force your eyes open. It's a sound. A clarion call from hell.

8. (butchery) Having the capillaries contracted due to stress at time of slaughter, causing blood to not drain properly.

• firey, reify