bone fire

noun

A fire lit with bones instead of wood, so that when livestock were driven between two such fires the acrid smoke drove off parasites.

OriginMiddle English banefire →
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Meanings

nounbone fire (plural bone fires)

plural bone fires · alternative bone-fire

  1. A fire lit with bones instead of wood, so that when livestock were driven between two such fires the acrid smoke drove off parasites.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishbanefire
  2. Middle Englishbanefire
  3. Englishbone fire

Inherited from Middle English banefire.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bone fire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bone%20fire

MLA

“bone fire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bone%20fire. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bone fire,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bone%20fire.

Source: bone fire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.