kindling-wood

A camper arranges kindling-wood to start a campfire.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Small pieces of wood used to start a fire: "Kindling-wood" refers to thin, dry sticks or splinters of wood that are easily ignited and used to begin a fire, typically in a fireplace, campfire, or stove.

Usage Examples

• (Small, dry sticks used as fuel to ignite a larger fire.)
• (Thin wood pieces placed beneath larger logs to help them catch fire.)

Advanced Usage

• "to break kindling-wood": to split or cut wood into small pieces for use as kindling.

  • Before the winter storm, he spent the afternoon breaking kindling-wood for the wood stove. (Preparing small fuel pieces for the fire.)

• "kindling-wood pile": a stack or collection of such wood.

  • The kindling-wood pile near the shed was almost empty. (The stack of small fire-starting wood.)

Variants and Related Words

• Kindling (n): the act of starting a fire, or the material (such as small sticks or paper) used to start a fire.
  • She used newspaper as kindling. (Material to ignite the fire.)
• Wood (n): the hard, fibrous material from trees, used for fuel or construction.
  • Softwoods like pine make good kindling-wood. (Wood that burns easily.)

Synonyms

• Tinder: dry, easily combustible material used to start a fire (often finer than kindling-wood, such as dry grass or bark).
• Firewood: larger pieces of wood used as fuel for a fire (distinct from kindling-wood, which is smaller and used for ignition).

Related Idioms

• No idioms directly involve "kindling-wood", but the concept appears in the phrase:
  • "Add fuel to the fire": to make a conflict or problem worse (not directly related to kindling-wood, but uses fire imagery).