backfire

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See also: back fire

English

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Etymology

From back +‎ fire.

Pronunciation

Verb

backfire (third-person singular simple present backfires, present participle backfiring, simple past and past participle backfired)

  1. (of a gun, cannon, Bunsen burner, etc., intransitive) To fire in the opposite direction, for example due to an obstruction in the barrel.
  2. (of a reciprocating engine, intransitive) To experience a premature ignition of fuel or an ignition of exhaust gases, making a popping sound.
  3. (idiomatic, transitive) To fail in a manner that brings down further misfortune.
    His attempt to make money by importing luxury cars backfired horribly when fuel prices tripled.
    Her plan backfired on her.
    • 2023 August 9, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Disinterested and dishonest”, in RAIL, number 989, page 3:
      Obsessed only with cost, 'Sir Humphrey' saw that Transport for London 'got away' with ticket office closures on the Tube with only minor public pushback and miscalculated that it could do the same on the national network. This assumption backfired spectacularly.
  4. (firefighting) To set a back fire (small, controlled fire to limit spread of a larger fire).

Translations

Noun

backfire (plural backfires)

Sports automobiles, like this Mercedes-Benz C-class, often produce backfires (sense 3) at the exhaust pipe.
  1. (firefighting) Alternative spelling of back fire
  2. A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in the wrong direction.
  4. An explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine.
    • 2024 May 29, Mike Baker, “Sleepless in Seattle as a Hellcat Roars Through the Streets”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
      As much of Seattle tries to sleep, the Hellcat supercar goes on the prowl, the howls of its engine and the explosive backfires from its tailpipes echoing off the high-rise towers downtown.
  5. An explosion in other equipment.
    • 1962 July, “Failures of multiple-unit electric trains on British Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 53:
      The chief causes of rectifier backfiring in the Glasgow units were overheating or unfavourable anode/cathode temperature differential; it has proved possible to overcome these, although occasional backfires do still occur.

Synonyms

  • (premature explosion in engine cylinder): knock, ping

Derived terms

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