Crossword clues for backfire
backfire
- A miscalculation that recoils on its maker
- A loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine
- Produce an undesired effect
- Rebound adversely
- Have the opposite of the intended effect
- Have an unintended negative consequence
- Defender getting sack is to have adverse consequences
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
backfire \backfire\, back fire \back fire\
A fire started ahead of a forest or prairie fire to burn only against the wind, so that when the two fires meet both must go out for lack of fuel.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1839, American English, originally "a fire deliberately lit ahead of an advancing prairie fire to deprive it of fuel," from back (adj.) + fire (n.). As a verb in this sense, recorded from 1886. The meaning "premature ignition in an internal-combustion engine" is first recorded 1897. Of schemes, plans, etc., "to affect the initiator rather than the intended object" it is attested from 1912, a figurative use from the accidental back-firing of firearms.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context firefighting English) (alternative spelling of back fire English) 2 A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in the wrong direction. 3 An explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine. vb. 1 (cx of a gun, cannon, Bunsen burner, etc. English) To fire in the opposite direction, for example due to an obstruction in the barrel. 2 To fail in a manner that brings down further misfortune.
WordNet
n. a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine
a miscalculation that recoils on its maker [syn: boomerang]
v. have an unexpected and undesired effect; "Your comments may backfire and cause you a lot of trouble" [syn: backlash]
emit a loud noise as a result of undergoing a backfire; "My old car backfires all the time"
set a controlled fire to halt an advancing forest to prairie fire
Wikipedia
Back-fire is an unintended explosion produced in a vehicle's engine.
Backfire also may refer to:
Backfire is a 1988 mystery-thriller film about a murderous love triangle which forms between an affluent Vietnam War veteran, his wife, and another man. The film was directed by Gilbert Cates, and stars Karen Allen, Keith Carradine, Dean Paul Martin and Jeff Fahey.
Backfire: A Transwave Best Of (1994-1996) is a Transwave album, released on January 12, 2007.
Backfire is a 1950 crime film in the film noir style directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Edmond O'Brien, Virginia Mayo, Gordon MacRae, Viveca Lindfors, and Dane Clark.
The film was written by Larry Marcus, Ben Roberts, and Ivan Goff. It is notable for launching the film noir careers of its writers and one of its actors.
Although Backfire was completed in October 1948, it was not released until January 1950. However, screenwriters Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts would go on to write White Heat the year after working on Backfire. Edmond O'Brien would also star in White Heat, as well as in the seminal film noir, D.O.A., in 1950.
Backfire is a 1964 French crime film directed by Jean Becker, which stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg.
The film recorded admissions of 2,007,088 in France.
Usage examples of "backfire".
On a terse command from their carrier, they went to afterburner and rocketed southwest toward the Backfires.
The only problem being, of course, that whenever you ran an operation that was not aboveboard there was a certain risk of it backfiring into a worse situation than it had been before.
Ubiqtorate agent was starting to wind down now, and with a flicker of private amusement Carib realized that for once the old intimidation tactic had backfired.
Confirm the one-regiment Backfire raid downbound, over Reykjavik right now, estimated course one-eight-zero.
Then the Hutu strategy backfired, and by August the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front was in power in Rwanda, and somewhere between half a million and a million Hutus had become refugees in other countries, mainly Zaire.
With an AS-6 Kingfish missile hanging under each wing, the Backfires, too, were potentially vulnerable, but the Backfire had the ability to run at high Mach numbers and stood a fair chance at survival, even in the face of determined fighter opposition.
A minute later, the seventy Backfire bombers launched their hundred forty AS-6 Kingfish missiles and turned north at full military power.
The last of the Backfires had just launched their missiles and were turning back northeast at full power as the Eagles raced at twelve hundred knots to catch up.
In essence, the document implied that not only was preemption unnecessary in the case of Iraq but could backfire and bring about the very disaster it was intended to avert: the provision of WMD by Saddam to terrorists who sought to destroy America.
Fearing that his control was threatened, he ordered large-scale arrests and executions, which backfired and destabilized his regime for months afterward.
Sometimes, however, this lack of caution backfired, because Mercedes would be on all fours hiding behind a lilac bush or some tulips, and she would pop up with her pitching arm going like balls of fire as soon as Harlan entered the invisible but well-marked sphere of her range, and without fail her sudden appearance, plus the accuracy of her pellets, would give the big blubbery man such a start that on several occasions he actually fell down from surprise, and he almost always emerged from these sneak attacks with his heart thundering in a terribly unhealthy manner.
An inner hatch closed underneath its tailfins, protecting the other probes from backfire.
A hands-off policy had backfired, the insurgents had gathered strength.
Two men had been killed and another seriously hurt when one of the rail-mounted port pieces had backfired, blowing apart its removable breech.
The sudden loss of his Backfire force-it would be out of action for another five days-forced him to take his dedicated anticarrier submarine teams and send them against the convoys, which meant crossing NATO's picket line of submarines, and losses there were heavy, too.