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wildfire

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wild⋅fire

  [wahyld-fahyuhr]
Use wildfire in a Sentence
–noun
1. a highly flammable composition, as Greek fire, difficult to extinguish when ignited, formerly used in warfare.
2. any large fire that spreads rapidly and is hard to extinguish.
3. sheet lightning, unaccompanied by thunder.
4. the ignis fatuus or a similar light.
5. 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.
6. Pathology Obsolete. erysipelas or some similar disease.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME wildefire, OE wildfȳr. See wild, fire
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Residential Fire Pump
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wild·fire   (wīld'fīr')   
n.  

  1. A raging, rapidly spreading fire.

  2. Something that acts very quickly and intensely: a land swept by the wildfire of revolution.

  3. Lightning occurring without audible thunder.

  4. A luminosity that appears over swamps or marshes at night; ignis fatuus.

  5. A highly flammable material, such as Greek fire, once used in warfare.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

wildfire

see spread like wildfire.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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