ash-fire

A chemist uses an ash-fire to heat a small beaker.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A smoldering fire: "ash-fire" refers to a fire that burns slowly and without flames, often producing a deep bed of hot ash. This type of fire is used in chemical experiments or for controlled heating.
   • A fire reduced to ash: It can also denote a fire that has burned down to mostly ash, with only faint embers remaining.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The chemist used an ash-fire to slowly heat the mixture. (A smoldering fire for laboratory experiments.)
  • After the campfire died down, only an ash-fire remained, glowing faintly. (A fire reduced to ash and embers.)

Advanced Usage

• "to tend an ash-fire": to maintain a slow, low-temperature fire by carefully adding fuel or stirring the ash.

  • The blacksmith tended the ash-fire to keep the forge at a steady temperature. (He managed the smoldering fire for metalworking.)

• "banking an ash-fire": covering a fire with ash to slow its burning, often done overnight.

  • Before bed, the campers banked the ash-fire to preserve coals for morning. (They covered the fire with ash to keep it smoldering.)

Variants and Related Words

• Ash (n): the powdery residue left after burning.

  • The ash from the fireplace was cold and gray. (The leftover burnt material.)

• Fire (n): the state of combustion producing heat, light, and flames.

  • A bright fire crackled in the hearth. (A flaming combustion.)

Synonyms

• Embers: small pieces of glowing coal or wood in a dying fire.
• Smolder: a slow, smokeless fire.
• Cinders: partly burned pieces of coal or wood.

Phrasal Verbs

• Burn down to ash: to be reduced completely to ash by fire.
  • The old barn burned down to ash within hours. (It was entirely consumed by fire.)

Related Idioms

• Fire and ash: a phrase describing something completely destroyed or consumed.
  • The city lay in fire and ash after the attack. (It was devastated by flames.)