fire tongs
- noun
- /ˈfaɪər tɔŋz/
:
tenazas de fuego
- He picked up the hot embers with the fire tongs, ensuring he did not burn himself.
Baijong plunged the fire tongs into the dead ashes, and Barbara Kingsolver put potatoes in her root cellar.
- Baijong plunged the fire tongs into the dead ashes, and Barbara Kingsolver put potatoes in her root cellar.
Examples
-
He went after them with a set of fire tongs.
Fiction book (1991) -
Brandishing the fire tongs, she stalked to the door and pulled it open.
Fiction book (1994) -
Get dressed before I take this poker to you," Jory said, grabbing the fire tongs and swinging them through the air.
Fiction book (1994) -
Baijong plunged the fire tongs into the dead ashes, and Barbara Kingsolver put potatoes in her root cellar.
-
He carefully used the fire tongs to transfer the glowing coals to the fireplace.
-
To add warmth to the room, she adjusted the logs with the fire tongs.
Synonyms
14
2.4
A tool with two arms joined at one end for gripping things
1
2.2
A tool with two long handles joined at one end for holding and lifting hot or delicate things
1
6.0
A metal tool like a poker or tongs that you use to tend a fire in a fireplace
1
1.0
A tool with two arms that you use to pick up hot or small things
A tool with two long arms for picking up hot coals in a fireplace
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning — a pair of tongs used for handling burning coals — is directly and transparently derived from combining 'fire' (burning flame/heat) with 'tongs' (a grasping device). This straightforward noun+noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows predictable English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Fire tongs come from the simple image of two metal arms used to pick up hot coals from a fire, as the tongs close around a coal so you can move it without burning your hands. So the name tells you the tool's job: 'to pick up and move hot coals'.