boutefeu

plural boutefeus · alternative boutè-feu

1. obsoleteAn incendiary; an inciter of quarrels.

   Animated by […] John a Chamber, a very boutefeu, […] they entered into open rebellion.

   1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC

   1 more example

   But we, who only do infuse / The rage in them like boutè-feus, / 'Tis our example that instils / In them th' infection of our ills.

   1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC

   Synonyms: firebrand