kindling
English
Etymology
kindle + -ing
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɪnd.lɪŋ/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ɪndlɪŋ
Noun
kindling (countable and uncountable, plural kindlings)
- Small pieces of wood and twigs used to start a fire.
- Go and collect some kindling.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
- When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped ; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals, and her pretty little Alsatian maid beside her, laying a log across the andirons.
- The act by which something is kindled.
- December 14, 1784, Hester Rogers, letter to the Rev. Mr. Fletcher
- The kindlings of love which had been felt before, now became a flame in every believing soul; and when fallen on our knees, the power of God descended of a truth […]
- December 14, 1784, Hester Rogers, letter to the Rev. Mr. Fletcher
Usage notes
Kindling refers to the second stage of building a fire: tinder is used to light kindling, which then lights the main fire.
Coordinate terms
- tinder
Adjective
kindling (comparative more kindling, superlative most kindling)
- Illuminated, lit.
- 1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, "Ye shall seek me in the Morning, but I shall not be,", page 52:
- The morning o'er the gilded grove
Bright on the kindling landscape fell,
I sought her where she oft did rove
In want and sorrow's lonely cell;—
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Translations
pieces of wood and twigs used to start a fire
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act
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Verb
kindling
- present participle of kindle
- Despite the damp wood, he had no trouble kindling a fire.