firebug

IPA/ˈfaɪəbʌɡ/
KK[fˈaɪɚbˌʌɡ]IPA/ˈfaɪərbʌɡ/

firebug — noun

  • firebugsingular
  • firebugsplural

1. a person who starts fires on purpose, either to cause damage or because they fin

1.nounC2
Definition

a person who starts fires on purpose, either to cause damage or because they find fire exciting

Example

Police caught the firebug who set three barns on fire last summer.

catch/arrest the firebug + relative clause naming the arson

The town feared a firebug after four empty houses burned down in one week.

Common collocations
  • serial firebug
  • suspected firebug
Synonyms
  • arsonist

    neutral legal term for someone who criminally sets fire to property

  • pyromaniac

    stresses a psychological compulsion to start fires, not just the crime

  • incendiary

    formal; can also mean a bomb or device built to start fires

Usage Note

Informal and a little old-fashioned; news reports and courts prefer 'arsonist', while 'firebug' sounds more casual and is often used of a child or amateur who is fascinated by fire rather than a serious criminal.

Common Mistakes

The man firebugged three shops.
The man set fire to three shops.
'firebug' is a noun for the person, never a verb for the act of starting fires.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These words all name someone who starts fires, but they differ in tone and focus. 'Firebug' is informal and a little old-fashioned, the word a newspaper might use for a local trouble-maker, or a parent might use for a child who keeps lighting matches. 'Arsonist' is the neutral, legal term: it names the crime of setting fire to property on purpose, and it is the word police and courts use. 'Pyromaniac' points to a mental compulsion — a person who feels a strong urge to start fires, whether or not any crime follows. 'Incendiary' is the most formal of the four and can also describe a bomb or device made to start fires. So police would 'arrest the arsonist', but a parent might fondly scold 'you little firebug'.

arsonist ↗pyromaniacincendiary ↗

Common collocations

Verbs

Adjectives

Etymology

English

Firebug is an American compound from the middle of the 1800s. It joins 'fire' with 'bug', using an older slang sense of 'bug' that means a person who is keen on or obsessed with something — the same 'bug' found in 'shutterbug' for a keen photographer. A firebug, then, is someone 'bitten by the fire bug': drawn again and again to starting or watching fires.

First known use

1869

1869, in the meaning defined above