Car·bu·ret·ed a.
 1. Chem. Combined with carbon in the manner of a carburet or carbide.
 2. Saturated or impregnated with some volatile carbon compound; as, water gas is carbureted to increase its illuminating power.
 [Written also carburetted.]
 Carbureted hydrogen gas, any one of several gaseous compounds of carbon and hydrogen, some of with make up illuminating gas.
 Light carbureted hydrogen, methane (CH4), also called marsh gas, and fire damp.

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 Damp n.
 1. Moisture; humidity; fog; fogginess; vapor.
 Night . . . with black air
 Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom.   --Milton.
 2. Dejection; depression; cloud of the mind.
 Even now, while thus I stand blest in thy presence,
 A secret damp of grief comes o'er my soul.   --Addison.
    It must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion.   --J. D. Forbes.
 3. Mining A gaseous product, formed in coal mines, old wells, pints, etc.
 Choke damp, a damp consisting principally of carbonic acid gas; -- so called from its extinguishing flame and animal life. See Carbonic acid, under Carbonic.
 Damp sheet, a curtain in a mine gallery to direct air currents and prevent accumulation of gas.
 Fire damp, a damp consisting chiefly of light carbureted hydrogen; -- so called from its tendence to explode when mixed with atmospheric air and brought into contact with flame.


 Fire n.
 1. The evolution of light and heat in the combustion of bodies; combustion; state of ignition.
 Note: ☞ The form of fire exhibited in the combustion of gases in an ascending stream or current is called flame. Anciently, fire, air, earth, and water were regarded as the four elements of which all things are composed.
 2. Fuel in a state of combustion, as on a hearth, or in a stove or a furnace.
 3. The burning of a house or town; a conflagration.
 4. Anything which destroys or affects like fire.
 5. Ardor of passion, whether love or hate; excessive warmth; consuming violence of temper.
    he had fire in his temper.   --Atterbury.
 6. Liveliness of imagination or fancy; intellectual and moral enthusiasm; capacity for ardor and zeal.
    And bless their critic with a poet's fire.   --Pope.
 7. Splendor; brilliancy; luster; hence, a star.
    Stars, hide your fires.   --Shak.
 As in a zodiac
 representing the heavenly fires.   --Milton.
 8. Torture by burning; severe trial or affliction.
 9. The discharge of firearms; firing; as, the troops were exposed to a heavy fire.
 Blue fire, Red fire, Green fire Pyrotech., compositions of various combustible substances, as sulphur, niter, lampblack, etc., the flames of which are colored by various metallic salts, as those of antimony, strontium, barium, etc.
 Fire alarm (a) A signal given on the breaking out of a fire. (b) An apparatus for giving such an alarm.
 Fire annihilator, a machine, device, or preparation to be kept at hand for extinguishing fire by smothering it with some incombustible vapor or gas, as carbonic acid.
 Fire balloon. (a) A balloon raised in the air by the buoyancy of air heated by a fire placed in the lower part. (b) A balloon sent up at night with fireworks which ignite at a regulated height. --Simmonds.
 Fire bar, a grate bar.
 Fire basket, a portable grate; a cresset. --Knight.
 Fire beetle. Zool. See in the Vocabulary.
 Fire blast, a disease of plants which causes them to appear as if burnt by fire.
 Fire box, the chamber of a furnace, steam boiler, etc., for the fire.
 Fire brick, a refractory brick, capable of sustaining intense heat without fusion, usually made of fire clay or of siliceous material, with some cementing substance, and used for lining fire boxes, etc.
 Fire brigade, an organized body of men for extinguished fires.
 Fire bucket. See under Bucket.
 Fire bug, an incendiary; one who, from malice or through mania, persistently sets fire to property; a pyromaniac. [U.S.]
 Fire clay. See under Clay.
 Fire company, a company of men managing an engine in extinguishing fires.
 Fire cross. See Fiery cross. [Obs.] --Milton.
 Fire damp. See under Damp.
 Fire dog. See Firedog, in the Vocabulary.
 Fire drill. (a) A series of evolutions performed by fireman for practice. (b) An apparatus for producing fire by friction, by rapidly twirling a wooden pin in a wooden socket; -- used by the Hindoos during all historic time, and by many savage peoples.
 Fire eater. (a) A juggler who pretends to eat fire. (b) A quarrelsome person who seeks affrays; a hotspur. [Colloq.]
 Fire engine, a portable forcing pump, usually on wheels, for throwing water to extinguish fire.
 Fire escape, a contrivance for facilitating escape from burning buildings.
 Fire gilding Fine Arts, a mode of gilding with an amalgam of gold and quicksilver, the latter metal being driven off afterward by heat.
 Fire gilt Fine Arts, gold laid on by the process of fire gilding.
 Fire insurance, the act or system of insuring against fire; also, a contract by which an insurance company undertakes, in consideration of the payment of a premium or small percentage -- usually made periodically -- to indemnify an owner of property from loss by fire during a specified period.
 Fire irons, utensils for a fireplace or grate, as tongs, poker, and shovel.
 Fire main, a pipe for water, to be used in putting out fire.
 Fire master (Mil), an artillery officer who formerly supervised the composition of fireworks.
 Fire office, an office at which to effect insurance against fire.
 Fire opal, a variety of opal giving firelike reflections.
 Fire ordeal, an ancient mode of trial, in which the test was the ability of the accused to handle or tread upon red-hot irons. --Abbot.
 Fire pan, a pan for holding or conveying fire, especially the receptacle for the priming of a gun.
 Fire plug, a plug or hydrant for drawing water from the main pipes in a street, building, etc., for extinguishing fires.
 Fire policy, the writing or instrument expressing the contract of insurance against loss by fire.
 Fire pot. (a) Mil. A small earthen pot filled with combustibles, formerly used as a missile in war. (b) The cast iron vessel which holds the fuel or fire in a furnace. (c) A crucible. (d) A solderer's furnace.
 Fire raft, a raft laden with combustibles, used for setting fire to an enemy's ships.
 Fire roll, a peculiar beat of the drum to summon men to their quarters in case of fire.
 Fire setting Mining, the process of softening or cracking the working face of a lode, to facilitate excavation, by exposing it to the action of fire; -- now generally superseded by the use of explosives. --Raymond.
 Fire ship, a vessel filled with combustibles, for setting fire to an enemy's ships.
 Fire shovel, a shovel for taking up coals of fire.
 Fire stink, the stench from decomposing iron pyrites, caused by the formation of hydrogen sulfide. --Raymond.
 Fire surface, the surfaces of a steam boiler which are exposed to the direct heat of the fuel and the products of combustion; heating surface.
 Fire swab, a swab saturated with water, for cooling a gun in action and clearing away particles of powder, etc. --Farrow.
 Fire teaser, in England, the fireman of a steam emgine.
 Fire water, a strong alcoholic beverage; -- so called by the American Indians.
 Fire worship, the worship of fire, which prevails chiefly in Persia, among the followers of Zoroaster, called Chebers, or Guebers, and among the Parsees of India.
 Greek fire. See under Greek.
 On fire, burning; hence, ardent; passionate; eager; zealous.
 Running fire, the rapid discharge of firearms in succession by a line of troops.
 St. Anthony's fire, erysipelas; -- an eruptive fever which St. Anthony was supposed to cure miraculously. --Hoblyn.
 St. Elmo's fire. See under Saint Elmo.
 To set on fire, to inflame; to kindle.
 To take fire, to begin to burn; to fly into a passion.


 Gas n.; pl. Gases
 1. An aëriform fluid; -- a term used at first by chemists as synonymous with air, but since restricted to fluids supposed to be permanently elastic, as oxygen, hydrogen, etc., in distinction from vapors, as steam, which become liquid on a reduction of temperature. In present usage, since all of the supposed permanent gases have been liquified by cold and pressure, the term has resumed nearly its original signification, and is applied to any substance in the elastic or aëriform state.
 2. Popular Usage (a) A complex mixture of gases, of which the most important constituents are marsh gas, olefiant gas, and hydrogen, artificially produced by the destructive distillation of gas coal, or sometimes of peat, wood, oil, resin, etc. It gives a brilliant light when burned, and is the common gas used for illuminating purposes. (b) Laughing gas. (c) Any irrespirable aëriform fluid.
 Note: ☞ Gas is often used adjectively or in combination; as, gas fitter or gasfitter; gas meter or gas-meter, etc.
 Air gas Chem., a kind of gas made by forcing air through some volatile hydrocarbon, as the lighter petroleums. The air is so saturated with combustible vapor as to be a convenient illuminating and heating agent.
 Gas battery Elec., a form of voltaic battery, in which gases, especially hydrogen and oxygen, are the active agents.
 Gas carbon, Gas coke, etc. See under Carbon, Coke, etc.
 Gas coal, a bituminous or hydrogenous coal yielding a high percentage of volatile matters, and therefore available for the manufacture of illuminating gas. --R. W. Raymond.
 Gas engine, an engine in which the motion of the piston is produced by the combustion or sudden production or expansion of gas; -- especially, an engine in which an explosive mixture of gas and air is forced into the working cylinder and ignited there by a gas flame or an electric spark.
 Gas fitter, one who lays pipes and puts up fixtures for gas.
 Gas fitting. (a) The occupation of a gas fitter. (b) pl. The appliances needed for the introduction of gas into a building, as meters, pipes, burners, etc.
 Gas fixture, a device for conveying illuminating or combustible gas from the pipe to the gas-burner, consisting of an appendage of cast, wrought, or drawn metal, with tubes upon which the burners, keys, etc., are adjusted.
 Gas generator, an apparatus in which gas is evolved; as: (a) a retort in which volatile hydrocarbons are evolved by heat; (b) a machine in which air is saturated with the vapor of liquid hydrocarbon; a carburetor; (c) a machine for the production of carbonic acid gas, for aërating water, bread, etc. --Knight.
 Gas jet, a flame of illuminating gas.
 Gas machine, an apparatus for carbureting air for use as illuminating gas.
 Gas meter, an instrument for recording the quantity of gas consumed in a given time, at a particular place.
 Gas retort, a retort which contains the coal and other materials, and in which the gas is generated, in the manufacture of gas.
 Gas stove, a stove for cooking or other purposes, heated by gas.
 Gas tar, coal tar.
 Gas trap, a drain trap; a sewer trap. See 4th Trap, 5.
 Gas washer Gas Works, an apparatus within which gas from the condenser is brought in contact with a falling stream of water, to precipitate the tar remaining in it. --Knight.
 Gas water, water through which gas has been passed for purification; -- called also gas liquor and ammoniacal water, and used for the manufacture of sal ammoniac, carbonate of ammonia, and Prussian blue. --Tomlinson.
 Gas well, a deep boring, from which natural gas is discharged. --Raymond.
 Gas works, a manufactory of gas, with all the machinery and appurtenances; a place where gas is generated for lighting cities.
 Laughing gas. See under Laughing.
 Marsh gas Chem., a light, combustible, gaseous hydrocarbon, CH4, produced artificially by the dry distillation of many organic substances, and occurring as a natural product of decomposition in stagnant pools, whence its name. It is an abundant ingredient of ordinary illuminating gas, and is the first member of the paraffin series. Called also methane, and in coal mines, fire damp.
 Natural gas, gas obtained from wells, etc., in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere, and largely used for fuel and illuminating purposes. It is chiefly derived from the Coal Measures.
 Olefiant gas Chem.. See Ethylene.
 Water gas Chem., a kind of gas made by forcing steam over glowing coals, whereby there results a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This gives a gas of intense heating power, but destitute of light-giving properties, and which is charged by passing through some volatile hydrocarbon, as gasoline.