miss fire

present singular third person misses fire · participle present missing fire · participle past missed fire · past missed fire

1. datedDated form of misfire.

   I took aim and drew the trigger, but the gun missed fire. The person hearing the noise instantly jerked back his head.

   1828, Timothy Flint, A Condensed Geography and History of the Western States

   2 more examples

   The gun-makers say, that the guns would be continually missing fire, if larger grained powder were adopted. This would be no fault of the powder, but theirs. Why not make the chamber wider, up to the immediate vicinity of the point of ignition?

   1835, William Greener, The gun; or, A treatise on the various descriptions of small fire-arms

   This was said in the spirit of a joke, but, as it turned out, it missed fire, as both the arrival and departure of the train were strictly in accordance with the schedule.

   1943 January and February, Chas. S. Lake, “Some C.M.Es. I Have Known: IV—H. A. Ivatt”, in Railway Magazine, page 33