Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A metal plate that is attached to the back wall of a fireplace to protect the wall and radiate heat back into the room.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The back wall of a furnace or fire-place.
  • noun A macartney or fire-backed pheasant, of the genus Euplocamus, as E. ignitus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) One of several species of pheasants of the genus Euplocamus, having the lower back a bright, fiery red. They inhabit Southern Asia and the East Indies.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Some species of pheasant in the genus Lophura.
  • noun A piece of iron that fits into the back of a fireplace to distribute the heat and keep the brick from cracking.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From fire + back

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Examples

  • Install a fireback - A fireback is a cast iron sheet of metal located just behind the fire.

    Charles and Hudson 2009

  • I guess someone had time to write his "fireback" speech for him.

    Obama to fire back at McCain on CNN 2008

  • Pale-capped pigeon Columba punicea (VU) in the evergreen forest, green peafowl Pavo muticus (VU) and silver oriole Oriolus mellianus (VU) in the dipterocarp/deciduous forest and masked finfoot Heliopais personata (VU) from the riverside are resident. 53 species are considered nationally threatened or near threatened, including four species of hornbill, Siamese fireback pheasant Lophura diardi, the rare silver pheasant Lophura nycthemera and the mountain imperial pigeon Ducula badia.

    Dong Phayayan Khao-Yai Forest Complex, Thailand 2009

  • Some typical Indochinese birds found here, which are not found west of the Lower Central Plain, include Siamese fireback (Lophura diardi), Indochinese magpie (Cissa hypoleuca), and scaly-crowned babbler (Malacopteron cinereum).

    Chao Phraya lowland moist deciduous forests 2008

  • The imperial pheasant (Lophura imperialis) and Edwards's pheasant (L. edwardsi) are critically endangered, and the Vietnamese fireback (L. haitensis) and white-winged duck (Cairina scutulata) are endangered species found in this ecoregion.

    Northern Annamites rain forests 2007

  • To build a fire in a Rumford fireplace: Place a sheet of newspaper against the fireback, and prop it up with a bundle of half a dozen pieces of kindling leaning on the fireback in the form of a narrow tipi.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • The back wall of the firebox is the fireback, and its floor is the inner hearth.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • To build a fire in a Rumford fireplace: Place a sheet of newspaper against the fireback, and prop it up with a bundle of half a dozen pieces of kindling leaning on the fireback in the form of a narrow tipi.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • To build a fire in a Rumford fireplace: Place a sheet of newspaper against the fireback, and prop it up with a bundle of half a dozen pieces of kindling leaning on the fireback in the form of a narrow tipi.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • The back wall of the firebox is the fireback, and its floor is the inner hearth.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

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