† 1. One who uses fire-arms; a gunner. Obs.
1626. Rawleigh’s Ghost, 4. An hundred and odd of the best experienced souldiers or firemen, being all English, were sent from the States of the United Provinces, into Great Britain, to educate and instruct, in martial discipline.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Life (1770), 51. I do much approve likewise of shooting in the long-bow, as being both an healthful exercise and useful for the wars, notwithstanding all that our firemen speak against it.
1724. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1B40), 181. The cannoneers and firemen were killed, or had quitted their train in the fight, when our horse had possession of their artillery.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., I. xxii. 263. The fire Men place themselves at convenient Distances, along the skirts of an Hill or a Wood.
2. One who attends to a furnace or the fire of a steam-engine.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 53. One or two of these were Firemen that made the fires in the furnaces, who were never without store of dry wood by them.
1784. Wedgwood, in Phil. Trans., LXXIV. 367. The fire about the oven was slowly increased for some hours, and kept as even and steady as possible, by an experienced fireman, under my own inspection.
1885. Manch. Exam., 19 Feb., 4/7. The fireman jumped off … but the driver … and a brakesman … were killed.
† 3. fig. A ‘fellow of fire’; see FIRE sb. 13 b.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 61, 30 Aug., ¶ 1. I had last Night the Fate to drink a Bottle with Two of these Fire-men, who are indeed dispersed like the Mirmidons in all Quarters, and to be met with among those of the most different Education.
4. One who is employed to extinguish fires.
1714. Gay, Trivia, III. 361.
| Now with thick Crouds th’ enlighten’d Pavement swarms, | |
| The Fire-man sweats beneath his crooked Arms, | |
| A leathern Casque his vent’rous Head defends, | |
| Boldly he climbs where thickest Smoak ascends. |
1766. Entick, London, IV. 262. This office keeps in its service 30 fire-men, who are protected from a press, are annually cloathed, and wear a silver badge, with two hands joined, and a crown over them.
1855. O. W. Holmes, Poems, The Comet 140.
| I asked the firemen why they made | |
| Such noise about the town; | |
| They answered not,—but all the while | |
| The brakes went up and down. |
5. Mining. One whose duty it is to examine the workings of a mine to see that no fire-damp is present, to attend to the blasting, etc.
1866. J. Hogg, in Intellect. Observer, IX. 2. As there was no great quantity [of inflammable air] detected, the ‘fireman’ thought it sufficient precaution to put up a ‘danger-signal,’ whatever that may mean; which it appears was so little regarded that the men quickly followed to their usual work with naked lights.
1885. Law Times, LXXIX. 13 June, 119/2. The fireman should not allow any shot to be fired without seeing the charge put in, and without first carefully examining the place, and no shot was to be fired except it was judiciously placed, and the coal properly holed or cut.
6. Comb., as fireman-waterman.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Tales, vii. ‘Did you want to be put on board a steamer, sir?’ inquired an old fireman-waterman.
Hence Firemanship (nonce-wd.), the craft or function of a fireman.
1874. Daily News, 17 March, 5. The amateur firemanship of a nobleman.
1881. M. Reynolds, Engine-Driving Life, 66. A change soon comes over both driver and fireman, for the engine refuses to steam. Now is the time for the display of good enginemanship,—ah! and good firemanship.
