fireball

Etymology

It is formed from English fire + ball.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The OED compares Dutch vuurbal (“burning projectile”) (1552), Middle Low German vǖrbal and German Feuerball (1525).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A ball filled with burning or explosive material and thrown or shot at an enemy: about 1485, in a manuscript of Gilbert Hay's Buke of the Law of Armys, a work of 1456.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the 1550s, Merriam-Webster to 1555 and Dictionary.com to 1545–55.^[3][7][6]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a military projectile, and Johnson (1755) still defined it as a "grenado", quoting South's sermons on boasts that are thrown at the church "like so many fireballs, or mouth grenadoes".^[5][2] From 1638 to 1859 it was also used figuratively of a remark meant to stir up trouble,^[2] and since 1682 in heraldry of a bomb with flames coming out of it.^[2][7] Natural balls of fire took the name from 1555, when Richard Eden used it for St Elmo's fire, later for ball lightning,^[2] and since 1686 for a large bright meteor or bolide.^[2][7] Fire-lighters and balls of firebrick put into fires were also called fireballs in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[2] Recent senses are a very fast pitch in baseball (1913), a lively or hot-tempered person (1931), and the ball of fire from an explosion, at first from the atomic bomb (1945).^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1485 – a projectile filled with burning or explosive material.^[2]
• 1555 – St Elmo's fire; later, ball lightning.^[2][7]
• 1638 – figurative, a remark meant to cause trouble (obsolete by 1859).^[2]
• 1682 – in heraldry, a bomb with flames.^[2]
• 1686 – a large bright meteor.^[2]
• 1913 – in baseball, a very fast pitch.^[2]
• 1931 – a lively or quick-tempered person.^[2]
• 1945 – the ball of fire from an explosion, especially a nuclear one.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ball of fire or flame produced by an explosion, especially the bright cloud of hot gas at the centre of a nuclear explosion.^[8][7][2]
2. A large, very bright meteor; a bolide.^[8][7][2]
3. Ball lightning.^[8][7]
4. (informal) A very energetic person, or one with a fiery temper: The new coach is a real fireball.^[8][7][2]
5. In baseball, a very fast pitch; a fastball.^[7][2]
6. (historical) A ball filled with gunpowder or other burning material, thrown or fired at an enemy.^[7][2][4]
7. In heraldry, a bomb or grenade with flames coming from it.^[7][2][4]

Word family

• fireballer

Related words

• ball of fire
• fire
• ball

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins