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wildfire

[wahyld-fahy^uhr]

Origin

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noun

a highly flammable composition, as Greek fire, difficult to extinguish when ignited, formerly used in warfare.

any large fire that spreads rapidly and is hard to extinguish.

sheet lightning, unaccompanied by thunder.

the ignis fatuus or a similar light.

Plant Pathology. a disease of tobacco and soybeans, characterized by brown, necrotic spots, each surrounded by a yellow band, on the leaves and caused by a bacterium, Pseudomonas tabaci.

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Pathology Obsolete. erysipelas or some similar disease.

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Origin:
before 1000; Middle English wildefire, Old English wildfȳr. See wild, fire

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To wildfire

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Wildfire is always a great word to know.

So is gobo. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

wildfire (ˈwaɪldˌfaɪə)

—n
1.	a highly flammable material, such as Greek fire, formerly used in warfare
2.	a. a raging and uncontrollable fire
	b. anything that is disseminated quickly (esp in the phrase spread like wildfire)
3.	lightning without audible thunder
4.	another name for will-o'-the-wisp

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

wildfire

O.E., from wild (adj.) + fire (n.). Originally in ref. to spreading skin diseases; meaning "destructive fire" is attested from 1122; fig. sense is recorded from c.1300.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

wildfire

see spread like wildfire.