fireman

views updated Jun 27 2018

fire·man / ˈfīrmən/ • n. (pl. -men / -mən/ ) 1. a firefighter.2. a person who tends a furnace or the fire of a steam engine or steamship; a stoker. ∎ an enlisted person in the U.S. navy who maintains and operates a ship's machinery.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

visiting fireman

views updated May 11 2018

visiting fireman in the US, a visitor to an organization given especially cordial treatment on account of his or her importance. The usage is recorded from the 1920s, but there is a much earlier literal example on record, in an 1855 Baltimore paper.

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES