balefire means A bonfire, any large outdoor fire (for example those used in a funeral pyre, or in witches' rituals). It carries an Arena rating of 1815, earned across 23 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, balefire ranks #75 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #581 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,037 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,530 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
Why “balefire” is a great word
A large outdoor fire, especially one used for a funeral pyre or in ritual ceremonies, from the Old English bǣlfȳr, a compound of bæl ('funeral pyre') and fȳr ('fire'). Unlike a 'bonfire,' which crackles with communal cheer, or a 'signal fire,' which speaks in pragmatic tongues of smoke, a balefire is a fire of solemn purpose. It is the consuming orange light on a windswept headland, the column of sacred smoke carrying a soul skyward, and the silent, dancing perimeter around ancient rites. It is a transient monument built not from stone, but from the slow, dutiful conversion of matter into memory and ash.
Etymology
From Middle English bale-fyre, from Old English bǣlfȳr (“balefire, funeral or sacrificial fire”); equivalent to bale (“funeral pyre”) + fire.
noun
- A bonfire, any large outdoor fire (for example those used in a funeral pyre, or in witches' rituals).e.g.“Rites done on a lakeshore or seashore can be illuminated with balefires of dried driftwood collected prior to the rite.” — 2002, Marilyn F. Daniel, Kitchen Witchery, Weiser, →ISBN, page 236:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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