bonfire

Etymology

PIE word *péh₂wr̥ The noun is derived from Late Middle English bon-fir, bonefire, bonnefyre (“fire in which bones are burnt, bonfire”) [and other forms], apparently from bon (“bone; series of connected bones regarded as a unit; bone-like part of the body such as a piece of cartilage, tooth, tusk, etc.; animal’s dewclaw”) + fir (“fire”). Bon is derived from Old English bān (“bone”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, strike; to cut, hew”)), while fir is from Old English fȳr (“fire”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ (“fire”)). The first element of the word has sometimes been assumed to be French bon (“good; correct, right”). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes that bonfires, originally lit as part of midsummer celebrations, were not generally associated with the burning of bones. However, the first edition of the OED (under the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 1887) stated that “for the annual midsummer ‘banefire’ or ‘bonfire’ in the burgh of Hawick [in Roxburghshire, Scotland], old bones were regularly collected and stored up, down to c. 1800”. The verb is derived from the noun. cognates * Scots banefire (“bonfire”)

noun

1. A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal.
2. A fire lit outdoors to burn unwanted items; originally (historical), heretics or other offenders, or banned books; now, generally agricultural or garden waste, or rubbish.
3. (figurative) Something like a bonfire (sense 1 or 2) in heat, destructiveness, ferocity, etc.
4. (obsolete) A fire lit to cremate a dead body; a funeral pyre.

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To destroy (something) by, or as if by, burning on a bonfire; (more generally) to burn or set alight.
      [L]ike the Christmas joke of snapdragons for children, the very liquor was to be bonfired also, and drank burning. 1828 May, “[Review of New Publications.] 96. Nichols’s Progresses of King James I. Parts XIX. and XX. (Concluded from p. 154.)”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XXI (New Series; volume XCVIII overall), 1st part, London: […] J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Son,[…]; and sold by John Harris,[…], published 2 June 1828, →OCLC, page 427, column 1
      Sir, there are as many public documents as you could put in this room that must be taken out and bonfired, that have cost millions, that must be burned up, unless this provision of the honorable Senator from Illinois is carried. 20 June 1870, [James Warren] Nye, “Post Office Appropriation Bill”, in F. & J. Rives and George A. Bailey, editors, The Congressional Globe: […] (United States Senate, 41st Congress, 2nd session), volume LXIII, part V, Washington, D.C.: Blair and Rives; […], →OCLC, page 4646, column 2
      And as for ancient history, I think a good share of that could be bonfired. Kings, Emperors, Popes, Doges, Consuls, Priests, Shahs, Pharoahs, and all their quarrels and squabblings, with the times and seasons of the same—what a fine blaze they would make, and it is the only fine thing they could make, as I count it. 1894, William Hawley Smith, “House-cleaning and History”, in Walks Abroad and Talks about Them, Peoria, Ill.: Educational Press Association, →OCLC, page 210
      From one house they went to another, from that to another, until not one of the Christian[s]' houses was left standing. Everything was deliberately taken outside and bonfired; where the house adjoined others it was destroyed, where it stood alone it was given over to the devouring element. 20 July 1895, “Chinese Items”, in The Japan Weekly Mail: A Review of Japanese Commerce, Politics, Literature, and Art, volume XXIV, number 3, Yokohama: […] James Ellacutt Beale,[…], →OCLC, page 67, column 3
      [L]ibraries to be bonfired on the ground that the care of books competed with the care of babies, […] 1930, Wyndham Lewis, “At the American Bar”, in The Apes of God, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Black Sparrow Press, published 1981, part XII (Lord Osmund’s Lenten Party), page 454
      In any case, he made a point of bonfiring most of Lane's ideas, especially the liberal ones. 1988, Bill James [pseudonym; James Tucker], chapter 24, in Protection, London: Penguin Books, published 1989, page 161
      'Thank you, Bruce sweetie,' Victoria said, serenely, the operating light directly behind her bonfiring her hair. 2001, Kathy Lette, “Relying on the Kindness of Passing Serial Killers”, in Nip ’n’ Tuck, Sydney, N.S.W.: Picador, page 234
      We fell, fell, fell all of us, Icaruses, bits of papery ash falling through dusk after the German Reich had been bonfired out of existence by French and Bolshevist guile. 2007, A[ndrew] N[orman] Wilson, “The Flying Dutchman”, in Winnie and Wolf, London: Hutchinson, page 28
      Skinny militia fighters with canisters on their backs had circled the compound. Burning gasoline-covered tents and corpses, bonfiring the thorn tree barrier, creating heat so profound it convoluted the air and made our plane bounce. 2016 July, James Abel, Cold Silence (A Joe Rush Novel), New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, page 60
   2. (ceramics) To fire (pottery) using a bonfire.
      The pots are formed by the coiling method and bonfired using palm fronds, grass and sometimes dung. 2000, Moira Vincentelli, “Running the Business”, in Women and Ceramics: Gendered Vessels, Manchester, New York, N.Y.: Manchester University Press, page 195
      In China, where huge figures have been excavated in recent years at Xian, archaeologists surmise that they were probably bonfired lying horizontally in a pit, or possibly handmade bricks were piled over the sculptures to retain heat; the bricks would have been removed from round the figure when the firing was over. 2002, Susan Peterson, Jan Peterson, “Firing Ceramics”, in Working with Clay, 2nd edition, London: Laurence King Publishing, page 131, column 1
      Fabricated in the coil and pinch manner of old societies, the work was bonfired—but then a unique treatment was used. Before the pot had cooled, hot melted pitch from piñon trees was poured or rubbed in a thin coating over the vessel, inside and out. This unusual technique distinguished the look and aroma of Navajo pottery. 2003, Susan Peterson, “The Legacy of Generation: Pottery by Contemporary American Indian Women”, in Susan R. Ressler, editor, Woman Artists of the American West, Jefferson, N.C., London: McFarland & Company, section II (Identity), page 104, column 1
   3. (obsolete) To start a bonfire in (a place); to light up (a place) with a bonfire.
      They almost carried him [the king] into the palace on their shoulders; and at night the whole town was illuminated and bonfired. 1743 November 28 (Gregorian calendar), Horace Walpole, “To Sir Horace Mann”, in The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford:[…], volumes I (1735–1748), Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, published 1842, →OCLC, page 349
2. (intransitive, rare) To make, or celebrate around, a bonfire.
   Seems as if one day we are all bar-b-quing, swimming, jetskiing, bonfiring, and the next thing you know everyone is gone, leaving the house empty (except for the sad pile of damp towels and a refrigerator full of sloppy Jo's). 27 March 2014, Joan Rust, “11.7.10: Spangles and Big C-Burgers”, in Anniecat Chronicles, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 131
   Before I got out of Josh's car as he dropped me off after Marmalade's that first night, he said they were bonfiring at Shell Shores the next afternoon. He didn't even ask if I wanted to meet them, just assumed I'd be there. 2016, Alexandra Sirowy, chapter 4, in The Telling, New York, N.Y., London: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, page 36