Meanings
nounflaming onion (plural flaming onions)
plural flaming onions
- historicalslanggovernmentA 37 mm Hotchkiss revolving-barrel anti-aircraft gun used by the German army at the beginning of World War I.
- historicalslanggovernmentThe flare or tracer ammunition fired by this weapon.
Allied pilots feared and loathed these, because a hit from a flaming onion instantly turned an aeroplane into an inferno.
1985, Robert Harrison, Aviation Lore in Faulkner, page 116
Origin
From its appearance after exploding.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
flaming onion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flaming%20onion
MLA
“flaming onion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flaming%20onion. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flaming onion,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flaming%20onion.
Source: flaming onion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.