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to backfire

to backfire

8 4.8
To make a loud explosive noise when fuel in an engine catches fire outside it
  • verb
  • /ˈbækˌfaɪər/
translation icon : hacer un estallido
  • "Our driver had left the BTR's engine running in his haste to get away from the bees, and it backfired.
  • a car backfired
  • the engine backfired
  • a truck backfired

Examples

  • The damn thing backfires again.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The old engine whined, turned over, and finally caught, missing and backfiring on the low-grade gasoline the Germans gave the police.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • That's a truck backfire, Ma.

  • I might hear a car backfire and mistake it for gunfire.

    Blog text (19)
  • From the street below, a car backfired several times, the sound echoing loudly through the apartment.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Now and then it would backfire—kaboom!—loud as a field gun.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Shaking my head, I glimpse, briefly, an exterminator's truck, backfiring as it rattly-clacks down the street.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Most loud bangs are not bombs, they're scooters backfiring.

  • The boat slices ahead along the atoll's outermost palm border, and the aft motor backfires with puffs of smoke.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • As he drove his old car, it started to backfire loudly, startling the pedestrians on the sidewalk.

Antonyms

Working without problems or interruptions

3 3.1

Working as it should and ready to use

Phrasal Verbs

To fail in a way that makes things much worse

How Loud

to explode
579 2.8
to backfire
8 4.8
to pop
90 3.2
tick
34 2.0

Surface Forms

backfire infinitive
backfired past
backfired past participle
backfiring present participle
backfires third person singular

Morphology

backfire = back + fire (transparent) = back + fire

The verb describes the physical event of ignition at the rear of an engine; the compound is semantically literal.

Etymology

The word backfire comes from back ('behind') and fire ('flame'). If an engine sends a small explosion or flame out the back and makes a loud bang, we say the engine backfires.