prairie fire
1
7.3
- noun
- /ˈprɛəri faɪər/
- US
:
fuego de pradera
- The electric trucks stand idle by the highway, while the drivers—one of them may be your granddaughter—stand chatting in groups, watching the smoke of the prairie fires on the horizon.
- spread like prairie fire
Examples
-
Prairie fires—whether caused by lightning or hunters—burn quickly across a sea of grass, bringing new growth and, in the past, attracting bison.
Academic text (2002) -
A prairie fire would burn through this country until the moon was cooked.
Fiction book (1993) -
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Curtis prairie fire ca. 1970
Academic text (1993) -
She dreamt of a prairie fire that burned the very air overhead, and of a frantic escape whose end isn't reached before she wakes.
Blog text (3) -
As far as I can see—squinting in every direction—the paper spreads, licking across the land like a prairie fire out of control.
Fiction book (1994) -
The prairie fire spread quickly across the dry grass, fueled by the strong wind.
-
A prairie fire can destroy acres of land in just a few minutes if not controlled.
-
Local firefighters worked hard to contain the prairie fire before it reached nearby farms.
Synonyms
89
3.0
A large uncontrolled fire that quickly spreads through forests or fields
5
4.1
A small uncontrolled fire that burns bushes and shrubs
4
3.2
A large fire that is out of control in wild areas like forests or grasslands
A fire that burns dry grass and spreads across open land
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an uncontrolled fire burning across a grassy area' is directly and literally derived from combining 'prairie' (grassland) with 'fire' (burning); a learner who knows both words can easily infer a fire occurring on a prairie. This noun compound follows common cross-linguistic and English patterns (e.g. 'forest fire', 'grass fire') and is therefore transparently compositional for B1 learners.
Etymology
The noun prairie fire comes from the image of a small spark on a wide flat grassland called a prairie turning into a fast-moving fire. That's why prairie fire means 'an uncontrolled fire that spreads quickly'.