[f. FIRE sb. + BRAND sb.]
1. A piece of wood kindled at the fire.
c. 1205. Lay., 25608.
| Sloȝen [floȝen?] of heore hæȝene | |
| swulc fur-burondes. |
c. 1300. K. Alis., 6848.
| Theo kyng sygh a lem, so a fuyrbrond, | |
| And from the trough a stern to heven stond. |
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xiii. 57þ8. In þis citee also a wikked man on a tyme kest a brynnand fyrebrand at oure Lord for to stirre him til ire and hitt him on þe heued.
1591. Spenser, Virg. Gnat, 343.
| Tisiphone each where doth shake and shiver | |
| Her flaming fire-brond, encountring me, | |
| Whose lockes uncombed cruell adders be. |
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. (1862), 296. As the Proverb is, he could have bit a Fire-brand, had it stood in his way.
1786. trans. Beckford’s Vathek (1868), 6. Opened wide his huge eyes, which glowed like firebrands.
1828. Berry, Encycl. Her., I. Fire-brand inflamed ppr., Firebrands, borne in coat-armour, are generally represented raguly.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Æneid, I. 525.
| We Troy’s ill-starred sons, long tossed by the winds of the deep, | |
| Pray thee the firebrand fell from the Trojan vessels to keep. |
† b. transf. One who is doomed or deserves to burn in hell; usually firebrand of hell. Obs.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 7420.
| Or he us made for noght els to dwelle | |
| In erth, bot to be fyre brandes in helle. |
1551. Crowley, Pleas. & Pain, 269.
| But be you sure, eternall fyre | |
| Is redy for eche hell fyrebrande. |
1560. Becon, New Catech., Wks. 1844, II. 204. I am now become a Christian; whereas before I was by nature the child of wrath and a very firebrand of hell, I am now the son of God and heir of everlasting glory.
2. fig. One who, or a thing which, kindles strife or mischief, inflames the passions, etc.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. vii. 4. Thin herte be not ferd of the two tailes of these smokende fyr brondis in to the wrathe of the wodnesse.
1581. Savile, Tacitus’ Hist., II. lxxxvi. (1591), 104. This man, entring into the cause of Vespasian, became a principall firebrande of the warre, seeming to delite not so much in the rewards of perils, as in the perils themselues.
1583. Exec. for Treason (1675), 16. Dr. Sanders, the Popes firebrand in Ireland.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., IV. (1702), I. 293. And so this firebrand of Priviledge inflamed the City at that time.
1690. Norris, Beatitudes (1692), 67. Meer Fire-brands in Society, that kindle and lay waste where-ever they come.
1791. Burke, Corr. (1844), III. 278. How come these fierce republicans, even the very firebrands of the Jacobins, all at once to pretend this affection to royalty, but in order to betray it more effectually through the means of the stuffed skin of a monarch?
1860. Motley, Netherl., I. iv. 131–2. Not peace, but a firebrand—facem, non pacem—had the King held forth to his subjects.
† 3. = BRAND-MARK. Obs.
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 1049/4. A speckled Mare … marked with a Fire-brand on the near shoulder. Ibid. (1704), No. 4037/8. A … Cart Gelding … a Firebrand on the near Shoulder.
4. A local name for the redstart.
1890. in Gloucest. Gloss.
5. attrib. Firebrand-new (dial.) = BRAND-NEW.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., IV. 327.
| Umbidelve | |
| The rootes, and dryve ynne a firbronde pynne. |
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. ii. 110. Our fire-brand Brother Paris burns vs all.
1882. W. Worc. Gloss., Fire-brand-new … quite new.
Hence Fire-branded ppl. a., (a) = BRAND-MARKED (obs.); (b) furnished with fire-brands. Fire-brandism (nonce-wd.), the disposition or behaviour of a (social) fire-brand.
1673. Lond. Gaz., No. 764/4. The Gelding is brown … the Letter R firebranded on the farther buttock.
1818. Keats, Endym., III. 7.
| Who, through an idiot blink, will see unpack’d | |
| Fire-branded foxes to sear up and singe | |
| Our gold and ripe-ear’d hopes. |
1887. The Saturday Review, LXIV. 5 Nov., 643/1. Firebrandism of this kind is, therefore, an act either of unpardonable folly or of still more unpardonable wickedness.
