Wiktionary:Word of the day/2024/August 13

1. A ball of fire, especially one associated with an explosion, or (fiction, mythology) thrown as a weapon.
2. (figurative)
   1. (informal) A feisty, strong-willed person.
   2. (baseball) Synonym of fastball (“a high-speed pitch of a baseball”)
3. (astronautics) A bright glow caused by a spacecraft re-entering an atmosphere.
4. (astronomy) A meteor bright enough to cast shadows; a bolide.
5. (sailing) A class of sailing dinghy with a single trapeze and a symmetrical spinnaker, sailed by a crew of two.
6. (weaponry, historical) A bag or ball filled with combustible material which is thrown as a weapon or to set something alight.
   1. (heraldry) A charge depicting a disc-shaped bombshell with flames emitted from the top, or sometimes from the top, bottom, and on either side.
7. (obsolete)
   1. An emanation of St. Elmo's fire; also (later), of ball lightning.
   2. A ball-shaped firelighter (“small block of a flammable substance, typically a combination of sawdust and wax, used to light fires”).
   3. A ball of heat-resistant material placed in a fire to slow down the burning of the fuel.
   4. (figurative) A statement intended to cause dissension or as a provocation.

fireball adj

1. (slang) Excellent, terrific.

fireball v

1. (transitive, fiction, chiefly fantasy, science fiction) To attack (someone or something) with balls of fire.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To explode in a ball of fire or flame.
   2. (figurative) To emerge suddenly; to explode.
   3. (baseball) To pitch a baseball very fast.