Firehole

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An opening fitted with a door, giving access to the firebox of a steam locomotive, through which coal can be shovelled and the fire tended.

    "The way the glare from our engine firehole pulsated, reflecting continuously in the steam, combined with our achievement in keeping level with the lighter train until our metals parted at Wilton, provided another lasting memory."

Example

More examples

"The way the glare from our engine firehole pulsated, reflecting continuously in the steam, combined with our achievement in keeping level with the lighter train until our metals parted at Wilton, provided another lasting memory."

Etymology

From fire + hole.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.